India’s Bank Frauds Need a Sensible Response
It’s time to allow new payment networks. Let them charge fees to offer institutional-grade security to retail customers.
Payment apps are part of India’s digital revolution.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/BloombergBank frauds in India have tripled in value. But that’s only because some of the cases reported previously were reinvestigated and appeared in the new data. More worrying than the surge in the amount, however, is the rise in the number of payment scams over the past couple of years. The solution lies in rewarding better security.
Most of the stealing from banks occurs the traditional way: via loans obtained with the help of forged documents or bribes. Customers, though, are increasingly at risk of being cheated when they make payments. According to the central bank’s latest annual report, more than half of frauds took place in digital or card-based transactions, even though they accounted for only 1.4% of the $4 billion in scams.