One in Three Indians Surveyed Say They Were Tricked into Sending Money to a Fraudster, Outseer Research Finds

New survey of Indian respondents carried out for Outseer finds many scams in India rely on manipulating customers into making payments to fraudsters.

MUMBAI, INDIA, October 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- One in three Indian consumers (34.4%) say they have personally been tricked by a fraudster into sending money from their own bank account, according to new research from Outseer, a leader in All-Cause Fraud Prevention™.

Including those who have seen it happen to someone close to them, the figure rises to 59.8%. India's 34.4% personal-experience figure is the highest of the markets surveyed, well above the 20.9% seven-market average.

Pressure tactics are widespread too. 30.8% have personally been targeted by someone posing as police, government, a court or another authority and threatening action unless money was sent, the kind of impersonation behind so-called “digital arrest” scams, and 34.0% have been asked to install an app that lets a fraudster control their device.

The problem is concentrated among working-age Indians: 41.0% of 25–34s have personally been tricked into sending money, and the figure stays above one in three in every age group up to 54, falling to 19.6% among those 55 and over.

“These findings show that scams are not simply a problem of stolen credentials or compromised accounts,” said Ajit Pillai, Country Manager - India & South Asia, Outseer. “Fraudsters are increasingly manipulating genuine customers into making transactions themselves, often using pressure, impersonation or control of the customer's device. The scale of these experiences in India underscores the need for banks to look beyond whether a customer is authenticated and consider whether the transaction itself is consistent with genuine customer intent.”

Concern is high: 70.8% are very or extremely concerned about being tricked into sending money.

Institutions pay a price too. Among those personally tricked into sending money, 64.6% say a fraud or scam experience reduced their trust in the provider involved, and 54.5% would report it to a regulator or authority if their bank failed to protect them.

Indians also expect institutions to share the burden: 32.8% say both the sending and receiving bank should cover such losses, the most common answer, while 26.6% say the customer should.

Background protection is welcome: 83.5% react positively to their bank using background technology to check it’s really them making a payment.

“Fraud prevention must recognise the difference between a genuine customer and a genuine transaction. Behavioural biometrics, device intelligence, transaction signals and broader risk context can give banks additional evidence when an authenticated customer is being manipulated,” said Outseer’s Pillai. “The good news is that consumers are receptive to protection that works in the background, allowing banks to strengthen detection without automatically adding friction to every payment.”

The findings are drawn from a wider Outseer study of 7,029 consumers across India, the UK, US, Sweden, Australia, Brazil and Singapore, with 1,002 Indian respondents. Participants were asked about their concern and experience across 14 fraud and scam types, their attitudes to authentication and liability, and how they would respond if their bank failed to protect them — broken out by age and market throughout.

Outseer’s full e-book covering the results from India is available at www.outseer.com/ebook/consumer-trust-fraud-authentication-india

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About Outseer
Outseer is a leader in All-Cause Fraud Prevention™, providing AI-powered fraud detection and prevention for banks, card issuers and payment providers. It helps financial institutions protect the full digital customer journey, from login and account activity to payments and 3-D Secure transactions. Its fraud prevention platform combines real-time risk intelligence, powered by the Outseer Risk Engine, with behavioral biometrics, device, transaction and contextual signals, and intelligence from the Outseer Global Data Network. It helps organizations detect account takeover, scams and mule activity, and orchestrate the right authentication responses, including banking-grade FIDO and passkeys, when additional assurance is needed.

Trusted by thousands of clients in more than 50 countries, including hundreds of the world’s largest financial institutions, Outseer safeguards more than 450 million accounts, 100 billion transactions and $5 trillion annually. Outseer helps banks, card issuers and payment providers stop fraud and scams, reduce unnecessary friction for genuine customers, and make smarter risk decisions across digital banking and card payments. Learn more at outseer.com.

Media Contact
Sarah Rutherford
sarah.rutherford@outseer.com
+44 7796268174

Sarah Rutherford
Outseer
+44 7796 268174
sarah.rutherford@outseer.com