Around 39 Percent of Indian Families Have Experienced Online Financial Fraud: Survey

Around 39 percent of families in a survey claimed to have experienced financial fraud in the last three years and only 24 percent of them got their funds back, LocalCircles said in a report on Tuesday.

The largest group of 23 percent of respondents in the survey indicated to have experienced credit or debit card fraud while 13 percent indicated fraud by buying, selling, and classified site users.

As per the survey, 13 percent were defrauded by websites taking money for products that were not delivered, 10 percent indicated ATM card fraud, another 10 percent indicated bank account fraud and 16 percent mentioned other frauds.

"The data shows 30 percent of those surveyed had one member in the family who had been a victim of financial fraud while 9 percent indicated that multiple members in their family have been subject to financial fraud in the last three years. Of the remaining 57 percent were thankful they or their family members had escaped such an experience and 4 percent gave no clear response," online survey firm LocalCircles said in the report.

The firm said that the survey received nearly 32,000 responses from families located in 331 districts of India comprising 66 percent male respondents and 34 percent women.

About 39 percent of respondents were from tier 1, 35 percent from tier 2, and 26 percent respondents were from tier 3, 4, and rural districts.

When asked if the victims were able to get their funds, 24 percent of the 11,305 responses received indicated that they were able to get back their funds while 70 percent could not get any resolution to their complaint.

The data showed 18 percent filed a complaint with the designated platform or entity and got back the money and 6 percent filed a complaint with authorities and got back the funds.

"However, 41 percent indicated that the 'matter is still pending', 17 percent feel helpless stating 'there was nowhere to go', 12 percent of those surveyed admitted that they decided to not even file a complaint and 6 percent gave no clear response," the report said.

A comparative study with the response received last year shows that while the percentage of families reporting financial frauds has slightly reduced in 2023 compared to 2022 (previous 3 years), the percentage of those reporting credit and debit card frauds has risen from 18 percent last year to 23 percent now.

"What is promising is that the percentage of families who have reported financial frauds and were able to get back their funds has risen from 17 percent in 2022 to 24 percent in 2023 (previous 3 years), which shows that both the platforms or entities and the authorities are taking more timely and effective action than they did 12 months ago," the report said.