APP Fraud Losses Expected To Reach $612 Million In India By 2026

New report suggests that Authorized Push Payment (APP) fraud losses are expected to climb to USD 612 million in India by 2026 from USD 330 million in 2021.

The APP fraud losses are expected to rise by a CAGR of 13.15 per cent.

In 2022, one quarter (25 per cent) of fraudulent transactions in India are valued between Rs 50,001 and Rs 1,00,000, and a further 19 per cent are valued between Rs 20,001 and Rs 50,000. Together, these ranges make up around 44 per cent of the total instances of fraud in the country. 

Despite the rising concern around fraudulent payment activities, almost a third of the victims in India continue to show high brand loyalty after they have been victims of APP scams and are more likely to choose to keep their account open, the report further reveals.

According to the Scamscope report, Product (37.8 per cent), Romance (18.4 per cent) and Investment scams (16.3 per cent) are the most commonly reported APP scams across India, US and the UK.

APP fraud scams involve fraudsters tricking their victims into willingly making large bank transfers to them – in many cases, this happens via social engineering across social media networks or via telephone. The growth of real-time payments has given rise to this new type of fraud, which in many markets is growing at a much faster rate than card fraud.

In a statement, Ankur Saxena, Country Leader – India & South Asia, ACI Worldwide said, “Despite educative and preventative mechanisms adopted by banks, stories of victims falling to APP scams continue to be an issue. While there is an increasing awareness of these scams, fraudsters are also evolving their modus operandi. In such a scenario, sufficient flexibility is needed by banks to dynamically define and update the rules that govern risk. Not only will this help in increasing the detection accuracy of such frauds, but also help in addressing them before they are carried out.”