Despite a rise in financial frauds, 17% of people store financial information on their smartphones

• There has been an increase in financial fraud amid an increase in financial transactions.
• People are storing important financial information on their smartphones without any security.
• 88% of the people surveyed have submitted their Aadhaar as proof for applications and bookings.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revealed that 5,406 instances of financial fraud were reported during April-September 2022, up from 4,069 reports during the same period in 2021. According to the central bank, the modus operandi for fraud has shifted to card and internet-based transactions.

According to a survey conducted by LocalCircles, people are still storing important financial information such as internet banking passwords, and debit and credit card PINs on their smartphones.

17% of people store financial information on their smartphone

Out of over 32,000 people surveyed, 9% admitted to storing important financial information on their phone’s contact list, and 8% admitted using the notes app on their smartphone.

This means that 17% of people store important data without security. A similar survey in 2021 revealed that 11% of people were storing important financial data on their phones, meaning there has been an increase in this number, despite attempts by the central bank to raise awareness among the people.

18% of the people revealed that they store financial information on their computers and laptops. At the same time, 14% of the people claimed that they had memorised their financial information and had yet to store it anywhere.

24% of the people share their debit and credit card PIN with family

According to the report, 24% of the people share their debit and credit card PIN with one or more family members, and 6% share with their domestic or office staff. 67% of the people surveyed said they do not share this information with anyone.

88% of the people share Aadhaar for applications and bookings

Identity and address proofs such as Aadhaar, PAN, driving licence and others have become something we often share with government or private entities such as banks and hotels for various applications and bookings, be it in digital form or as a photocopy. Sometimes, more than one of these documents is shared, and there is an overlap.

A staggering 88% of the people have revealed that they have shared their Aadhaar as proof in the last five years. This was followed by 58% of the people sharing their PAN and 47% of the people sharing their driving licence. Additionally, 42% of the people shared their passports, and 35% shared their voter ID.

Nearly half of the people have faced a financial fraud

According to the report, 42%of the people surveyed have claimed to have faced some type of financial fraud during the three years between June 2019 to June 2022. Worse, 74% of these people failed to get their money back.

We recommend that users do not store sensitive financial information such as banking passwords and debit and credit card PINs on their smartphones and laptops. Instead, users should opt for secure applications or try to memorise this information.

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