Airtel MD Gopal Vittal warned customers that digital scams and fraud have become “a part of our new normal.”
He noted that using a main bank account linked to UPI or payment apps for all digital payments increases risk.
Transactions of any size, from groceries to flight tickets, can expose the main account to potential fraud, he noted.
Airtel MD Warns Users UPI Payments “Expose” Main Account to Digital Fraud
“One reason for this is that many of you use your main bank account, which is linked to a UPI handle or payment app, for every digital payment,” Airtel’s Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Gopal Vittal wrote in a letter to users
Airtel’s Vice Chairman and Managing Director Gopal Vittal
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Airtel’s Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Gopal Vittal, on Tuesday wrote to customers warning about digital scams and fraud, which he described as “a part of our new normal.”
“One reason for this is that many of you use your main bank account, which is linked to a UPI handle or payment app, for every digital payment,” Vittal wrote.
He added that whether transactions are for “small purchases like groceries or large ones like flight tickets, all these payments expose your main account.”
Vittal advised Airtel subscribers to use Airtel Payments Bank for their digital transactions.
“We have launched a very different type of bank: Airtel Payments Bank. Our model is simple. It is primarily for payments. That’s why we recommend keeping only a small amount of money in this bank,” he said.
Unlike other banks, Airtel Payments Bank does not lend, so it does not require a large balance from customers.
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“Exposing only the Airtel Payments Bank for all your digital payments means that even if you make a mistake, you won’t lose your hard-earned money,” he added.
Vittal also noted that any crime or fraud on “our network pains us all at Airtel.”
“For us, your safety is our top priority. This is why we were the first telco worldwide to provide instant alerts on spam calls and messages using our AI model. We have even found a way to block fraudulent links, even if you click on them by mistake,” he wrote.
Airtel Payments Bank, launched by Bharti Airtel in January 2017, was India’s first payments bank licence holder. It became a scheduled bank in January 2022. As of FY25, it serves 155 million users via a digital platform and over 500,000 banking points.
Meanwhile, India reported ₹107.21 crore losses in the first three quarters of FY25, with 13,384 cases recorded, according to a government reply to the Lok Sabha in March.
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The country’s rapid shift to digital payments has increased convenience but also cyber fraud, particularly in card, internet, and digital transactions. Losses from fraud cases of ₹1 lakh and above have risen steadily, peaking at ₹177.05 crore in FY24, compared with ₹18.46 crore in FY15, when 845 cases were reported.
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