SMS Scam And Fraud In India: In view of the cyber fraud happening in India, the government has made many types of rules. But amidst all these things, the cases of text message i.e. SMS based fraud and mobile fraud are increasing rapidly. It is seen that from the second half of 2025 to the first half of 2026, there has been an increase of 146 percent in SMS scams and 67 percent increase in mobile fraud.
In this case, Biocatch’s report has revealed that the increase in mobile fraud has been 86 percent on iOS devices and 35 percent on Android devices. At the same time, it has been clearly stated in this report that fraud is now becoming faster and more expensive than before. In which the number of risky payments has doubled while the average duration of fraud sessions has decreased by 32 percent. It is observed that the average transfer amount in each fraud session has increased by 1.7 times. Not only this, a 10 percent decline was recorded in web browser based frauds, which clearly shows that cyber criminals are now increasingly targeting mobile platforms.
Let us tell you that during 2025, the investigating agencies identified more than 8.5 lakh Mule accounts in more than 700 branches of various banks in India. According to the report, the total value involved in cyber fraud complaints in India will reach Rs 22,496 crore in 2025. During the same period, 26.48 lakh Mule account cases were reported, while suspicious transactions worth Rs 9,055 crore were stopped with the help of suspicious registry.
Tom Peacock, Global Fraud Intelligence Director at BioCatch, said: “SMS scams are so effective because they take advantage of a trusted communication channel. This makes even fake messages appear real and people take action without thinking too much.”
The report also revealed that the total value of fraudulent payment attempts increased by 35 percent, while the average call duration decreased by 31 percent and the average length of fraud sessions decreased by 32 percent.
Peacock said, “The high value of fraud attempts and the short time to complete calls and sessions show that cyber criminals have become more skilled than ever before.” “Fraud methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated,” he said. Criminals now use systematic social engineering and automated techniques to mislead victims and get them to transfer money before warning signs appear.”
According to the report, the rapidly increasing use of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), mobile banking, e-commerce and online investment platforms in India has created a strong digital payments ecosystem in the country, but the same system has also become an attractive target for cyber fraudsters.
Subhashish Bose, Global Advisory Director, Biocatch, said, “The positive thing is that the cooperation between banks, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) and law enforcement agencies is continuously increasing.”
He said, ‘Behavior-based intelligence does not limit banks to just a one-time identity verification process, but helps them continuously assess user intent. With this, banks can quickly identify fraud and take swift action.”
-with agency input
