Frauds in online banking and ATM transactions for amounts below Rs 1 lakh increased 54% in FY19 from the previous year to over 50,000 cases, the Finance Ministry revealed in response to a question asked in Parliament today. According to data provided by RBI, the total number of fraud monitoring returns (FMR) involving amounts below Rs 1 lakh shot up from 32,732 cases in FY18 to 50,438 cases in FY19 — a 54% increase. The total fraud amount involved was Rs 59.43 crores and Rs 78.04 crore in FY18 and FY19, respectively. According to the reply, banks were not required to report such frauds — involving an amount below Rs 1 lakh — to the RBI before FY18. The frauds include those in ATM transactions, debit and credit card, and internet banking transactions. As of Q3FY20 (up to December 2019), 50,122 cases of fraud involving Rs 80.89 crores have already been reported to the RBI. The RBI's master directions on fraud mandate all banks to submit 'Fraud Monitoring Return' in all fraud cases, irrespective of the amount involved, within three weeks of the bank having detected the fraud. This data was requested by five MPs from Shiv Sena and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), all elected from Maharashtra, which has accounted for highest number of fraud cases since FY18. The MPs are Hemant Sriram Patil, Shrikant Eknath Shinde, and Dhairyasheel Sambhajirao Mane from Shiv Sena; and Unmesh Bhaiyyasaheb Patil and Dr Sujay Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil from the BJP. The below states show…
