Nearly 51% people report losing money to online scam, shows survey

A new survey shows online scams are widespread in India, with most users encountering fraud attempts daily and many falling prey to impersonation, QR code traps and emerging deepfake threats

Just over half of Indians have lost money to online scams, with the average loss pegged at Rs 93,195, according to a survey.

 

How widespread are online scams in India? 

Nearly nine in ten Indians say they have encountered an online scam, a similar proportion report seeing suspicious QR codes, and close to four in ten who scanned them were redirected to unsafe pages.

 

How quickly do scammers operate? 

It takes a scammer just five minutes to cheat individuals of their money, a report by cybersecurity services firm McAfee shows.

 

Individuals report seeing 13 scam messages every day. What is changing is that more than one in every five people report that such suspicious messages do not contain any link prompting them to reply.

 

 

Why do scam attempts still succeed? 

Around 66 per cent end up replying to these messages, triggering the scam’s next step, the report adds.

 

How are new technologies amplifying scam risks? 

Newer ways of impersonation are hitting screens, with one of the prominent methods being deepfakes. Indians report seeing at least four deepfakes every day on average, and close to one-third are not confident in spotting them, according to the survey.

 

About 20 per cent report experiencing a scam impersonating somebody else through a voice clone.

  Scam report 

Indians who encountered a suspicious quick response (QR) code	~90%
Personally experienced online scam	87%
Lost money to a scam	51%
Average value of lost amount	Rs 93,915

  Source: McAfee