Consumers more concerned about digital payment frauds: Survey

Bengaluru: Indian consumers are increasingly concerned about digital payments and look to exercise greater caution, according to a new study conducted by YouGov and digital payment software, ACI Worldwide.

Almost 71% of consumers surveyed by YouGov and ACI Worldwide are more concerned about scams and fraud owing to the shift to digital methods of payments due to covid-19. This is a rise from 47% last year, who were worried about payment-related scams, at the onset of the pandemic.

When it comes to the potential fraud risks while transacting via unified payments interface (UPI) or digital wallets, almost half or 49% of consumers surveyed are most concerned about fake UPI payment links that ask for money transfers via text or email.

Additionally, 30% are concerned about their personal data being leaked due to data breaches, which suggests that consumer attitudes mirror RBI’s concerns with respect to storing card details; this can be circumvented through banks’ deployment of a standing instructions (SI) hub, the survey said.

The efforts of Indian authorities to encourage digital payments have been lauded, with nearly 8 in 10 or 78% consumers agreeing the government should continue to promote digital ways to pay to maintain safety and social distancing during the pandemic.

As usage continues to rise, payments through digital wallets and UPI are being used at least once per day by 37% of consumers, second only to cash. In addition, digital wallet and UPI has seen a 29% rise since just six months ago.

“The pandemic has been a major catalyst for the adoption and growth of digital payments in India, but transaction growth has been accompanied by the emergence of payments-focused scams, with many first-time users targeted by fraudsters. Consumers are overwhelmingly welcoming of the steps taken by authorities towards digitization in payments and acknowledge the efforts made by banks concerning consumer awareness of payments fraud,” said Kaushik Roy, vice president and head of product management, Asia, Middle East and Africa, ACI Worldwide.

Close to 77% of consumers believe merchants and retailers are now more open to digital payment methods and encourage their use, compared to pre-pandemic, indicating that covid-19 has accelerated both consumer adoption and merchant acceptance.

Concerns regarding limited merchant acceptance have dropped to 13% compared to 19% last year and 23% in a similar ACI survey from October 2019.