The growth of digitisation has led to an increase in UPI transactions. According to figures from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the UPI handled 16.99 billion transactions of Rs 23.48 lakh crore in January 2025. But there has also been a rise in scams and frauds involving UPI as a result.
In the first half of FY 2024-25, fraud cases increased by 27% year over year to 18,461 cases, while fraud cases relating to the banking sector increased by about 300% to 36,075 cases in FY 2023-24, according to RBI data.
Let’s examine several typical frauds with UPI.
Phishing
Here, scammers transmit phoney UPI links that mimic the merchant’s original URL. Victims lose their money when they click on the link since it takes them to malicious apps where auto-debit occurs.
Sending Fake Refund Messages
Some scammers ask victims to return funds that were inadvertently transferred to them. The victim’s payment is authentic, even though the initial credit and messages are fraudulent.
Sim Cloning
In this case, scammers make a replica SIM card using the victim’s mobile number. They then gain access to the victim’s UPI account using this SIM card, transferring the money without the victim’s awareness.
Impersonation
Fraudsters frequently pose as banks or organisations in order to fool victims into disclosing private information such as PIN, OTP, and UPI account credentials.
Through Any Desk
In order to deceive unsuspecting victims into downloading screen-sharing programs like Any Desk, scammers occasionally pose as bank personnel or customer support agents. They then conduct fraudulent transactions on the victim’s computer or mobile device.
Here are some pointers for avoiding UPI scams.
Never divulge your UPI PIN to strangers or anybody you don’t trust, avoid clicking on any links on the internet, no matter how alluring they may seem, and be wary of questionable apps. You should also never download apps from unreliable sources.