A few taps on the phone, and your financial transaction is done! India’s digital transformation with digital payments like UPIs, QR codes, and net and mobile banking has been a boon. The transactions can be easily done, and the payment methods are clean.
However, every boon has its set of banes. India, being relatively new to the digital transactions landscape, is fertile ground for cyber criminals. Banking frauds, e-commerce frauds, QR frauds, and AI-driven ransomware attacks can be easily done by cyber criminals, and India is an easy target for them.
Because of these attacks, millions of people in India have fallen victim to these criminals and lost a sizeable amount of money as well.
Obviously being cheated and losing lots of money causes trauma for the victims. But the surprising thing is hardly any research has been done to understand the victim’s personal feelings and state of mind. Also, most of the literature has been confined to the experiences of the West. There is barely any literature on the Indian’s perspective towards financial cybercrimes.
Therefore, in this study, the authors Prof. Kandaswamy Paramasivan and Prof. Nandan Sudarsanam from the Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Chennai, India (Prof. Kandaswamy Paramasivan is also affiliated with SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India), and Dr. Akanksha Jaiswal and Dr. Ameeta Fernando from Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), Chennai, India, have focused on financial cybercrimes on the Indian landscape, and researched from the victim’s perspective.
In order to conduct this research, the authors chose a sample study of victims of financial cybercrime from the Indian cities Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, New Delhi, and Mumbai.
The final sample included 11 females and 22 males; mostly married with dependents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with these victims. The data were analysed using Gioia methodology (Gioia methodology is a systematic, rigorous approach used in qualitative research to build new theories from raw data such as interviews and observations).
Two theories were used. The Routine Activity Theory was used to explain the elements leading to a crime, including victim, motivated offender, and absence of a capable guardian. Another theory called the Dual System Theory was used to understand the psychological aspects of the victims, such as fear, urgency, and coercion that the victims go through during the victimisation stage.
The research findings showed that the victims not only endure significant financial losses but also emotional trauma. Further, they receive less support from institutional guardians such as banks, police, and courts as financial cybercrimes are relatively new in India.
It was found that senior citizens and middle-aged adults were most vulnerable to financial cybercrimes. Elder citizens are highly susceptible to cyber risk in view of their low cognitive skills, memory decline, loneliness, and accumulated retirement wealth. Middle-aged adults leave behind large digital footprints due to a range of activities, including work, study, and social media.
In order to combat these emerging threats, several strategies powered by institutional guardians are necessary. Public awareness campaigns should educate individuals about novel cybercrime techniques. Banks, financial institutions, and law enforcement agencies must be well equipped to handle such problems. Victim support systems are a must to provide financial and psychological assistance to victims, especially during the post-victimisation stage.
This study provides a critical contribution to the global discourse of cybercrime by addressing a substantial research gap concerning the Indian context. It contributes to the nascent literature on financial cybercrime in India and provides a roadmap for more in-depth empirical research.
Dr. Sandeep Mittal, IPS, who is Director General of Police Tamil Nadu & Chairman, CSAI Expert Committee on Cybercrime Mitigation in India, acknowledged the importance of the work done by the authors of this paper with the following comments: “The study “Victim-centric approach to financial cybercrime: exploring vulnerabilities in the Indian digital landscape” makes a valuable contribution by shifting attention from offenders to victims’ lived experiences, an area relatively underexplored in the Indian context.
Based on interviews with 33 victims across five Indian cities and analysed using the Gioia methodology, the authors identify five dimensions of victimisation. A key finding is that vulnerability is not simply a function of education or digital literacy; even technology and finance professionals and recent retirees can become victims.
The integration of Routine Activity Theory and Dual Systems Theory provides a useful framework for explaining how situational factors such as fear, urgency and coercion can override deliberate decision-making, even among knowledgeable individuals.
Importantly, the study extends the consequences of cyber fraud beyond financial loss to psychological distress and difficulties arising from inconsistent institutional responses.
Overall, it makes a strong case for a genuinely victim-centric approach, combining targeted awareness with stronger coordination among citizens, financial institutions, telecom providers and law enforcement.”
Article by Akshay Anantharaman
Click here for the original link to the paper
