Qcomm phishing rate 4x ecomm as fraudsters chase faster digital channels

BENGALURU: India’s booming quick-commerce sector is emerging as a growing target for fraud, with suspected phishing rates on these platforms about four times those seen in traditional e-commerce, according to Bureau’s Global Fraud Intelligence Report 2026.Bureau’s fraud intelligence network found that suspected phishing on quick-commerce platforms rose from 0.2% of events in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 0.4% in the second quarter of 2026. The comparable rate for e-commerce stood at 0.1% in both the first and second quarters of 2026.The wider pool of potentially risky activity is significantly larger. Bureau said the share of high-risk quick-commerce sessions nearly doubled over the past year, with close to 82 million such sessions identified across five quarters. By the June quarter, more than one in every 23 quick-commerce sessions tracked by its network was classified as high risk.The report said ultra-fast fulfilment is compressing the time available for platforms to verify transactions and respond to suspicious behaviour. Fraudsters are exploiting features such as delivery confirmation, return and refund policies and promotional offers. Multi-account “farming”, for instance, can be used to repeatedly claim new-user discounts and referral benefits.Return fraud is also shifting from isolated customer abuse to organised operations, the report said. Networks can reuse devices and addresses across multiple accounts and merchants, including to claim non-delivery, substitute products in return packages or seek refunds. Such activity can be difficult for an individual platform or merchant to detect because each transaction may appear legitimate on its own.The trend comes as India’s broader fraud landscape is changing. Citing RBI data, the report pegged reported fraud at Rs 48,021 crore in FY2025-26, up 46.4%. It said fraudsters are increasingly shifting from high-volume, low-value attacks on UPI towards higher-value lending fraud as payment-level controls improve.Bureau said the RBI’s MuleHunter.AI now flags roughly 20,000 suspected mule accounts every month. The system is deployed across 23 banks. It also pointed to the Indian Digital Payment Intelligence Corporation, incorporated in October 2025, as part of a move towards sharing fraud signals across institutions.The report flagged NBFCs and digital lenders as another vulnerability, arguing that faster credit decisions and relatively lighter verification can make them attractive for synthetic-identity fraud. In such cases, fraudsters construct identities using a mix of genuine and fabricated information, build credible financial histories and later exploit multiple lenders simultaneously.Get the latest Business News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.