Digital fraud charges by the Ministry of Finance’s garbage company, calling it “intentional misinformation”: Source

Sources told Zee Business that the central government has dismissed a recent post by the National Assembly on social media about digital bank fraud. The position was called “misleading”, “in fact, incorrect” and “purpose to cause panic,” sources said, and it was an attempt by the company to clearly pique public fear through data distortions. On June 1, the Congress party went to Weibo website X (formerly Twitter) claiming that the center failed to protect citizens from digital payment fraud, claiming that Indians lost Rs 6.36 crore due to digital banking scams. Government sources said strongly rejected and condemned the company’s claims, and the claims were based on confusion and false statements.

Inc Official sources said they are addicted to false statements by confusing specific digital payment fraud with a wider range of bank fraud categories.

They added that it was intentionally exaggerated numbers to mislead citizens and cause fear because they claimed that “millions of millions” lost by digital fraud “is actually incorrect” and “deliberately distorted.”

“Parliament overstates the numbers by including all categories of bank fraud and labeling it as digital fraud,” said a senior government official. “Digital payment fraud fraud, commonly known as ‘card/internet’ fraud, constitutes only a subset of overall bank fraud and is subject to strict scrutiny by the Reserve Bank of India, HTE NPCI and law enforcement agencies.”

The official cited data from the Reserve Bank of India and the Ministry of Finance, noting that digital fraud accounts for only a small part of bank fraud. Between fiscal 2015 and December 2024, fraud cases in the country, especially under the category of “Card/Internet and Digital Payments”, involved an amount of Rs 1 lakh, of Rs 63,315, with a cumulative loss of Rs 73.333 crore.

“The Rs 6.36 crore cited by Congress involves overall bank fraud in various categories such as Loans, Forex, Deposits, etc. Submitting it as a digital fraud is serious oversight, or intentional misunderstanding,” a senior official said.

Official sources also highlighted a series of steps taken over the past few years to resist fraud in the country’s rapidly growing digital payment ecosystem, including:

• Digital Payment Security Control (February 2021): RBI-standarded Digital Platform Baseline Security Framework
• “Mulehunter” AI tool: This effective tool detects suspicious currency accounts across financial systems
• RBI Fraud Registry: This database detects repeat offenders in real time

Due to these efforts, the number of fraud involving PSU banks has dropped from Rs 21,626 crore in FY20 to Rs 23.2 crore in FY255 (until December 2024). “We are in the electronic age and must be vigilant around the clock. While agencies continue to innovate through AI-based systems, public awareness remains the key to inclusion of cyber fraud, especially among older people and first-time users,” the official added.

Officials said the Congressional Post ignored the granular nature of the RBI fraud classification by equating all fraud losses with digital scams and ignored misleading, adding that the rebuttal proposed a strategic attempt to politicize complex financial problems in a time of high Fintech expansion. According to them, the Reserve Bank of India (NPCI) (NPCI) continues to work closely with commercial lenders to ensure real-time fraud tracking, mandatory customer alerts and instant blocking of suspicious transactions.

In a digital-first economy, the government insists that creating panic through distorted numbers has not helped consumers, but has only undermined efforts to build a safe, inclusive financial infrastructure.

Here are a few things the officials pointed out, namely, junk claims: Inc’s claim:

• The claim that people lost Rs 6.36 crore due to digital fraud is misleading. Fact data from official data tells a completely different story