RBI Proposes Fraud Safeguards for Digital Payments

The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday released a discussion paper outlining new safeguards to combat the sharp rise in digital payment frauds, including a one-hour delay for high-value account-to-account transfers and enhanced protections for vulnerable users.

The proposals target authorized push payment frauds, where individuals are tricked into initiating transactions themselves through tactics such as phishing calls, fake customer service interactions, and deepfake impersonations. According to data from the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal cited in the paper, reported digital payment fraud cases surged from 2.6 lakh incidents worth 551 crore rupees in 2021 to 28 lakh cases totaling 22,931 crore rupees in 2025. Transactions above 10,000 rupees account for about 45 percent of fraud cases by volume but nearly 98.5 percent of the total fraud value, prompting the central bank to focus on these higher-risk transfers.

Under the first proposal, banks would implement a one-hour lag for account-to-account payments exceeding 10,000 rupees, particularly those via the Unified Payments Interface. During this period, funds would be provisionally debited from the sender's account but...