India’s rapidly expanding quick-commerce sector is emerging as a growing target for fraud, with suspected phishing rates on these platforms reaching about four times the level seen in traditional e-commerce, according to Bureau’s Global Fraud Intelligence Report 2026.
The speed that defines quick-commerce is also creating opportunities for fraudsters to exploit transactions, refunds, promotions and account systems.
Suspected phishing on quick-commerce platforms rose from 0.2 per cent of events in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 0.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2026, Bureau’s fraud intelligence network found. By comparison, the rate for traditional e-commerce remained at 0.1 per cent in both the first and second quarters of 2026.
Nearly 82 Million High-Risk Sessions Identified
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 Bureau’s network was classified as high risk.
Ultra-fast fulfilment is reducing the time available for platforms to verify transactions and respond to suspicious behaviour, according to the report. Fraudsters are exploiting delivery confirmation systems, return and refund policies and promotional offers.
Multi-account “farming” is one method being used to repeatedly claim new-user discounts and referral benefits. Return fraud is shifting from isolated customer abuse towards organised operations.
Such networks can reuse devices and addresses across multiple accounts and merchants to claim non-delivery, substitute products in return packages or seek refunds. This activity can be difficult for individual platforms or merchants to detect because each transaction may appear legitimate when viewed separately.
Proposal for Conducting Cyber Crisis Drill, Tabletop Exercise (TTEx) & CCMP Readiness Exercise
Reported Fraud Reaches ₹48,021 Crore
The quick-commerce trend comes as India’s broader fraud landscape changes. Citing RBI data, the report put reported fraud at ₹48,021 crore in FY2025-26, an increase of 46.4 per cent.
Fraudsters are increasingly moving away from high-volume, low-value UPI attacks towards higher-value lending fraud as payment-level controls improve, the report said.
Bureau said the RBI’s MuleHunter.AI now flags roughly 20,000 suspected mule accounts every month and has been deployed across 23 banks. The report also referred to the Indian Digital Payment Intelligence Corporation, incorporated in October 2025, as part of efforts to share fraud signals across institutions.
Digital Lenders Face Synthetic Identity Risk
The report identified non-banking financial companies and digital lenders as another area of vulnerability. Faster credit decisions and relatively lighter verification can make such lenders attractive targets for synthetic-identity fraud, it said.
In these cases, fraudsters construct identities using a combination of genuine and fake information. They then build credible financial histories before exploiting multiple lenders simultaneously.
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