New Delhi [India], July 3 (ANI): India's rapidly expanding digital economy is pushing companies to rethink how they investigate fraud, with organisations needing to move from post-incident probes to continuous forensic readiness as cybercrime becomes more sophisticated, according to a joint KPMG-FICCI report.

The report, 'Next-Gen Forensic: The New Age of Fraud Investigation', said fraud has evolved from isolated incidents into a technology-driven ecosystem powered by stolen identities, artificial intelligence (AI), real-time payment infrastructure, social engineering and organised criminal networks, requiring businesses to fundamentally change the way they prepare for and respond to financial crime.

'Fraud has entered a new phase. It is no longer confined to false claims, forged documents, isolated payment diversion, or traditional internal misconduct. Fraud now operates as a digitally enabled ecosystem,' the report said.

The report said India's digital transformation has significantly expanded the scale of financial activity as well as the potential attack surface for cybercriminals. It noted that Unified Payments Interface (UPI) processed more than 24,162 crore transactions worth about Rs 314 lakh crore in FY 2025-26, accounting for around 85 per cent of India's digital payments volume.

Against this backdrop, KPMG and FICCI argued that conventional fraud investigations are no longer sufficient.

'The report therefore proposes a practical shift: from investigation as reaction to investigation as next-generation intelligence infrastructure,' it said, adding that fraud investigations should generate 'typologies, taxonomies, control improvements, monitoring rules, reskilling initiatives, governance lessons, regulatory alignment, and forensic design changes that reduce the impact of future incidents.'

The report also highlighted the growing scale of cyber-enabled financial crime in India. It cited Ministry of Home Affairs data showing 24,02,579 online financial fraud complaints involving Rs 22,495 crore in 2025, while the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System helped save more than Rs 8,189 crore through rapid intervention.

According to the report, modern fraud investigations can no longer focus only on devices or individual transactions because a single incident may involve cyber intrusion, identity theft, payment manipulation, insider involvement, third-party exposure and money laundering.

'Effective response therefore depends on the ability to correlate technical evidence, financial movement, communication trails, access events, and governance decisions into one defensible narrative,' the report said.

The report also pointed to artificial intelligence as both a growing challenge and a critical investigative tool. It noted that fraudsters are increasingly using AI-powered techniques such as deepfakes and voice cloning, while financial institutions are deploying AI-based systems to detect suspicious activity.

It cited the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub's MuleHunter.AI platform, saying the solution has been rolled out across 26 banks and is identifying around 20,000 mule accounts every month with a precision rate of over 90 per cent.

The report concluded that organisations need to treat forensic readiness as a strategic business capability rather than a reactive function.

'Next-generation forensic is not merely an updated form of digital investigation. It is a strategic capability for the digital economy,' it said, adding that organisations must build systems that preserve evidence, shorten decision cycles and continuously convert incidents into intelligence to strengthen institutional resilience and trust. (ANI)