Text-message-based scams and mobile fraud have seen a significant increase in India, with SMS scams rising by 146% and mobile fraud sessions up by 67% between the second half of 2025 and the first half of 2026 compared to the previous year. The surge in mobile fraud sessions includes an 86% increase on iOS devices and a 35% rise on Android, according to a report by BioCatch.
Fraud is evolving to be faster and more costly, with risky payment sessions doubling, median fraud session length decreasing by 32%, and the median transfer value per fraud session increasing by 1.7 times. Additionally, web browser-based fraud sessions decreased by 10%, indicating a shift towards mobile attack channels.
Investigations revealed over 8.5 lakh mule accounts across more than 700 branches of various Indian banks in 2025. Cyber-fraud complaints in India amounted to Rs 22,496 crore in 2025, with 26.48 lakh mule cases reported, while Rs 9,055 crore was rejected through the suspect registry.
BioCatch’s Director of Global Fraud Intelligence, Tom Peacock, highlighted that SMS scams are highly effective due to their exploitation of trusted communication channels, making fraudulent messages appear legitimate and prompting quick actions from customers. The report also observed a 35% increase in the total value of attempted fraud payments, with average call length decreasing by 31% and median fraud session length falling by 32%.
India’s rapid adoption of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), mobile banking, e-commerce, and online investment platforms has created a digital payments ecosystem that is appealing to fraudsters. BioCatch’s Global Advisory Director, Subhashish Bose, mentioned the positive trend of increased collaboration between banks, the Reserve Bank of India, the I4C, and law enforcement agencies. He emphasized that behavioral intelligence allows banks to detect scams earlier and respond more promptly by moving beyond point-in-time authentication to continuous assessment of user intent.
