'39% Indian families claim to be victim of online financial fraud'

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

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

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

"The data shows 30 per cent of those surveyed had one member in the family who had been a victim of financial fraud while 9 per cent indicated that multiple members in their family have been subject to financial fraud in the last three years. Of the remaining 57 per cent were thankful they or their family members had escaped such an experience and 4 per cent 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 per cent male respondents and 34 per cent women.

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

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

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

"However, 41 per cent indicated that the 'matter is still pending', 17 per cent feel helpless stating 'there was nowhere to go', 12 per cent of those surveyed admitted that they decided to not even file a complaint and 6 per cent 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 per cent last year to 23 per cent 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 per cent in 2022 to 24 per cent 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.