The central authorities has dismissed a current put up by the Indian Nationwide Congress on social media containing claims concerning digital banking frauds, sources advised Zee Enterprise. Terming the put up as “deceptive”, “factually incorrect” and “supposed to create panic”, the sources mentioned that it was a transparent try by the INC to stoke public worry by means of information distortion. On June 1, the Congress occasion took to microblogging website X (previously Twitter) to allege that the Centre has failed to guard residents from rising digital cost frauds, claiming that Indians have misplaced Rs 6.36 lakh crore resulting from digital banking scams. Strongly rejecting and condemning the INC’s claims, authorities sources mentioned that the claims are primarily based on conflated and misrepresented figures.
The INC is indulging in misrepresentation of info by conflating particular digital cost frauds with the a lot broader class of whole banking frauds, mentioned the official sources.
It’s intentionally inflating figures to mislead residents and provoke worry, with their declare of “lakhs of crores” misplaced particularly to digital fraud being “factually incorrect” and “intentionally distorted”, they added.
“Congress is intentionally inflating figures by together with all classes of banking fraud and mislabeling them as digital fraud,” mentioned a senior authorities official. “Digital cost frauds, generally known as ‘Card/Web’ frauds, type solely a subset of general financial institution frauds and are handled with stringent scrutiny by the RBI, hte NPCI, and enforcement businesses,” famous the official.
Citing information sourced from the RBI and the Ministry of Finance, the official acknowledged that digital frauds account for less than a fraction of the entire banking frauds. Between FY15 and December 2024, fraud circumstances within the nation, particularly below the “Card/Web and Digital Funds” class, involving quantities to the tune of Rs 1 lakh, stood at 63,315 with a cumulative lack of Rs 733.3 crore.
“The determine of Rs 6.36 lakh crore quoted by Congress pertains to general banking frauds throughout all classes—loans, foreign exchange, deposits, and extra. Presenting this as digital fraud is both a grave oversight or deliberate misinformation,” mentioned a senior official.
The official sources additionally highlighted a sequence of steps undertaken over the previous few years to combat fraud within the nation’s quickly evolving digital funds ecosystem, together with:
- Digital Cost Safety Controls (Feb 2021): An RBI-mandated baseline safety framework for digital platforms
- ‘MuleHunter’ AI Software: This efficient software detects suspicious cash mule accounts throughout monetary methods
- RBI Fraud Registry: This database permits real-time detection of repeat offenders
On account of these efforts, the quantity of fraud involving PSU banks has come down from Rs 21,626 crore in FY20 to Rs 232 crore in FY25 (until December 2024). The official additionally mentioned: “We’re within the digital period, the place vigilance should be around the clock. Whereas businesses proceed to innovate with AI-based methods, public consciousness stays key to containing cyber fraud, particularly amongst aged and first-time customers.”
The Congress put up overlooks the granular nature of RBI fraud categorisation and misleads by equating all fraud losses with digital scams, in line with the officers, who added that the rebuttal suggests a strategic try and politicise a fancy monetary concern throughout an period of heightened fintech growth. In response to them, the RBI and the Nationwide Funds Company of India (NPCI) proceed to work carefully with business lenders to make sure real-time fraud monitoring, necessary buyer alerts and on the spot blocking of suspicious transactions.
In a digital-first financial system, the federal government maintains that creating panic by means of distorted figures does little to assist shoppers and solely undermines efforts to construct a safe, inclusive monetary infrastructure.
Right here are some things identified by the officers, rubbishing the INC’s claims:
- The declare that folks have misplaced Rs 6.36 lakh crore resulting from digital fraud is deceptive; factual information from official sources tells a really completely different story
- The INC put up begins by flagging issues in digital banking funds, however then shifts to counsel inflated losses
- It’s seemingly drawing from general banking fraud figures to generate panic
- It is a case of pure fear-mongering, geared toward undermining public belief within the digital monetary ecosystem and the banking sector
- It’s essential to grasp the excellence between whole banking fraud and digital cost frauds:
- Whole banking frauds embody a variety of illicit actions:
- Advances (loan-related frauds)
- Deposits
- Off-balance sheet objects
- Foreign exchange transactions
- Money dealing with
- Cheques and inter-branch accounts
- Digital frauds represent only one subset of this broader classification
- ‘Card/Web’ frauds primarily confer with digital cost frauds, comparable to on-line transactions, credit score/debit card misuse, and so forth.
- To place the precise scale into perspective, business banks and All India Monetary Establishments have reported a complete of 63,315 circumstances of digital cost frauds below the ‘card/web and digital funds’ class (for quantities above Rs 1 lakh) from FY15 to December 2024
- Throughout this era, the entire monetary loss from these digital frauds stood at Rs 733.3 crore
- These numbers straight contradict the INC’s narrative suggesting losses in “lakhs of crores” inside the digital area
- Such huge figures, if cited accurately, confer with cumulative fraud losses throughout all banking classes, not digital transactions alone
