Total amount of frauds reported by banks declines to six-year low: RBI

However, the number of frauds that were reported by banks have gone up from 7,263 frauds in 2020-21 to 13,576 in 2022-23

The total amount of frauds reported by banks declined to a six-year low while the average amount involved in frauds was the lowest in a decade, data from a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report shows.

However, the number of frauds reported by banks has gone up from 7,263 in 2020-21 to 13,576 in 2022-23. The amount involved in these frauds has seen a significant decline from Rs 1,18,417 crore to Rs 26,632 crore during the same period.

Meanwhile, in the first half of the financial year 2024 (H1FY24), the number of frauds reported shot up nearly three times as compared to H1FY23, whereas the amount of money involved in these frauds declined by nearly 85 per cent during the same period.

The common areas of operations of these frauds included advances, forex transactions, deposits, and operations involving card or internet transactions.

In number terms, H1FY24 saw credit and internet-related transactions as the most common types of fraud.

There were 12,069 instances of credit or internet-related frauds reported by banks in H1FY24. This number was close to two times the number of frauds reported in the entire year of 2022-2023 when credit/internet-based transaction frauds were pegged at 6,699 instances. Meanwhile, during H1FY23, the total number of these frauds was recorded at 2,321.