FICO Survey: 2 in 3 Indian Consumers Think Banks Should Reimburse Scam Victims

NEW DELHI— March 11 — 2025 (NYSE: FICO)

Highlights 

• 2 in 3 Indian consumers (66%) think banks should always reimburse scam victims (31%) or most of the time (35%).
• Over half of consumers say better fraud detection (57%) and more scam warnings (50%) are key ways banks can protect them.
• 87% of Indians are very (63%) or somewhat (24%) satisfied with their bank’s scam resolution process.

A new survey by global analytics software leader FICO highlights consumer expectations from banks to combat the growing threat of scams in India’s real-time payments (RTP) ecosystem. The ‘2024 Scams Impact Survey: India’ reveals that two in three Indian consumers believe banks should reimburse scam victims either always (31%) or most of the time (35%).

The survey also found that more than a third (37%) of consumers in India would hold banks accountable if they fell victim to a scam – with 19% blaming their own bank and 18% blaming the receiving bank. This underscores the importance of strong scam response strategies to reduce operational costs, minimize complaints, and retain customers.

“Indian consumers expect their banks to take the lead in the fight against fraudsters,” said Dattu Kompella, Managing Director in Asia for FICO. “When customers are dissatisfied with how a scam is handled, their response can be costly for banks—both financially and reputationally. More than half (56%) will lodge a complaint with their bank, while 30% will escalate the issue to regulators. Another 3% will switch banks entirely.

“This presents a crucial opportunity for banks to strengthen their fraud defenses, proactively protect consumers, and position themselves as trusted financial partners.”

More information: https://www.fico.com/en/latest-thinking/ebook/2024-scams-impact-survey-india 

Scam Reimbursement Expectations Could Shape Future Regulations

As concerns about scam losses grow, banks across India may soon face stricter regulations on reimbursement policies. In the UK, for example, both the sending and receiving banks are jointly liable for scam losses, meaning they are required to reimburse customers who fall victim to authorized push payment (APP) scams if the customer took reasonable steps to protect themselves.  

While 7% of consumers believe banks should never be liable and 19% think liability should be rare, a strong majority—66%—expect banks to refund victims all or most of the time. This expectation puts increased pressure on banks to enhance fraud prevention and response strategies before regulatory changes take effect.

Indian consumers want their banks to deploy better scam and fraud detection systems. More than half (57%) ranked this as the most or second most impactful action their bank could take. Another 50% of consumers cited more proactive warnings as the top protective measure.

“Banks can leverage advanced, predictive AI-driven models to detect and prevent scam related payments,” added Kompella. “With the right platform, these insights can drive protective actions such as real-time decision automation and customer outreach, including anything from sending proactive scam warnings, to requiring step-up authentication, or even halting suspicious transactions before they go through.”

Consumers in India have a variety of channel preferences for scam notifications, with 23% now favouring their bank’s app, 39% preferring text messaging and 26% opting for phone calls. While there is a gradual shift away from email, phone, and text to more secure channels like banking apps, no single method suits all consumers. To effectively protect their customers, banks must be equipped to communicate across multiple channels in real-time and ensure two-way engagement.

The good news is 87% of consumers in India are now somewhat (24%) or very (63%) satisfied with their bank’s handling of scams. To improve further, banks should prioritize each customer’s preferred channel for critical scam alerts within the RTP ecosystem.

FICO’s survey was conducted in 2024 by an independent research company. 1,000 Indian adults were surveyed, along with approximately 11,000 other consumers across 14 countries exploring their experiences regarding RTP usage, scams, and their banks’ scam management capabilities.

About FICO
FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 200 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, insurance, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 80 countries do everything from protecting 4 billion payment cards from fraud, to improving financial inclusion, to increasing supply chain resiliency. The FICO® Score, used by 90% of top US lenders, is the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the US and has been made available in over 40 other countries, improving risk management, credit access and transparency.

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Contacts:     
Tarundeep Singh
The 23 Watts for FICO
+91 98110 17310
tarundeep@the23watts.com

Saxon Shirley
FICO
+65 9171 0965
saxonshirley@fico.com