Text-Message Scams in India Surge 146% as Digital Fraud Shifts

The report comes as India's digital payments infrastructure – Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, and banking apps – pushes more transactions through mobile devices. Scammers have followed that traffic, using fake SMS messages that mimic banks, delivery services, and government agencies. The messages typically contain links to phishing sites or prompt the recipient to call a number that routes to a fraudster.

BioCatch's analysis covers fraud flagged by member banks using its behavioral-detection tools. The 146% figure refers to year-over-year growth in SMS-based scam attempts, not confirmed losses. confirmed losses. India's banking sector has been under pressure from the Reserve Bank of India to tighten fraud controls, with several lenders reporting higher provision costs for digital fraud in the past two fiscal years.