India’s digital payments revolution has been sold as a triumph of speed, scale and inclusion. From roadside vendors to urban professionals, millions now transact instantly through mobile platforms. But beneath this efficiency lies a growing vulnerability: the system has expanded faster than the user’s ability to navigate it safely. The sharp rise in digital fraud is not an anomaly ~ it is the inevitable by-product of a system designed for velocity rather than resilience. The policy instinct now is to slow things down. Proposals from the Reserve Bank of India, including transaction delays and layered authentication, reflect a belief that friction can deter fraud.

At first glance, this seems logical. If money moves slower, there is more time to detect and reverse suspicious activity. But this approach risks mistaking symptoms for causes. Digital fraud today is not primarily a technological failure; it is a behavioural one. Scammers exploit urgency, fear, and trust ~ what experts call social engineering. They do not hack systems so much as manipulate people into authorising transactions themselves. In such a landscape, adding........

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