New Delhi [India], July 24 (ANI): Text message-based scams in India have surged 146 per cent, highlighting a sharp shift in the country's digital fraud landscape towards scam-led attacks, according to the latest Digital Banking Fraud Trends in India 2026 report by fraud detection firm BioCatch.

The report said the rapid growth of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), mobile banking, e-commerce and online investment platforms has made India's fraud ecosystem increasingly digital, high-volume and driven by scams.

It noted that while attempted fraud sessions among BioCatch's customers in India declined 12 per cent, the total value of attempted fraudulent payments increased 35 per cent, indicating that fraudsters are targeting higher-value transactions.

It stated, 'UPI, investment scams, impersonation, and digital arrest scams fuel a large and rapidly evolving money mule ecosystem in India'.

According to the report, text message scams have emerged as one of the fastest-growing fraud channels as cybercriminals increasingly use SMS messages to lure victims into sharing sensitive information or authorising fraudulent transactions.

The report also highlighted changing fraud patterns. Risky payment sessions doubled during the period under review, while the median value transferred in each fraud session increased 1.7 times.

At the same time, the average phone call duration declined 31 per cent and median session length fell 32 per cent, suggesting that fraudsters are completing attacks more quickly and efficiently.

BioCatch said fraud is becoming more automated, with greater use of autofill tools for login credentials, enabling criminals to execute attacks faster. Although remote access trojan (RAT) attacks are declining as banks improve detection, credential autofill continues to increase, signalling that financial institutions need to strengthen malware detection capabilities.

The report also observed that more fraud sessions now involve active phone calls, where fraudsters stay connected with victims throughout the payment process, guiding them step by step and discouraging them from seeking help or verifying the transaction independently.

According to BioCatch, the banking industry has responded with stronger financial crime reporting, AI-led fraud detection and closer collaboration among banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and law enforcement agencies.

The report said banks should move beyond traditional fraud detection methods and adopt behavioural intelligence, device intelligence and real-time monitoring to identify suspicious activity before money leaves customer accounts.

It said fraud prevention strategies must focus on detecting scams earlier rather than relying only on blocking suspicious transactions after they occur. (ANI)