Why growing trust in digital payments may be leaving Indians more exposed to cybercrime

At a roadside tea stall, the QR code neatly taped on the can of biscuits now does more work than the cash box. A scan, a password, and a reassuring beep. No change to count, no note to fumble. In a country where your vegetable vendor, the auto driver and the doctor all get paid the same way, digital payments, especially UPI, have become a site where one’s bread and butter are bought and sold.

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The scale is hard to overstate. UPI has processed over 24,000 crore transactions in FY 2025-26, with the transaction values crossing ₹314 lakh crore. As the world’s most populous country, India has 70% of its population connected to the internet, making it one of the most sought-after global markets for internet services and digital platforms. That vast, eager, and active user base is also a tempting target. One that is ripe to be picked on by cybercriminals. The Status of Policing in India Report (SPIR) 2026 shows how the two meet: how India uses the internet and how cybercriminals stay one step ahead of users.

The phone for a wallet

Digital payments are a daily habit for Indians. About half (49%) of the respondents use UPI apps every day, while another quarter (24%) use them once or twice a week. UPI also stood out as the most frequently used online payment method, with almost half (48%) saying they use it “many times”, ahead of card, wallet, and NEFT/RTGS payment methods (Table 1).

Trust follows usage. UPI garnered the most trust out of all payment methods, with a third (34%) of the respondents considering it “very safe” and two in five (41%) considering it “somewhat safe”, meaning three in four people consider it to be safe. Card payments came in second, with about two in three (65%) considering it safe — 28% considering it ‘very safe’ and 37% ‘somewhat safe’ — followed by wallet-based apps and mobile banking apps. Taking all online banking modes together, a majority of the respondents find them to be safe, with about a quarter (23%) finding them “very safe” and about two in five (40%) finding them “somewhat safe”. On its own, this is a success story. People trust a system they use constantly, and the system mostly delivers.