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RBI Digital Fraud New Rules: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made a historic and very relief announcement for bank customers who are victims of online fraud and cyber fraud. In view of the increasing dangers of digital payments, the Central Bank has notified new rules, under which if a digital payment fraud of up to ₹ 50,000 happens to a person, then the bank will have to compensate a large part of his loss.
These new rules issued by RBI on June 24, 2026 will be fully implemented in the entire country from January 1, 2027. This is being seen as a lifesaver for crores of middle and low income group account holders, whose hard-earned money is stolen by cyber criminals in the blink of an eye.
Fraud of more than ₹ 48,000 crore in financial year 2025-26, low income group most affected
RBI has not taken this tough step just like that, but there are scary figures behind it. Digital fraud cases worth more than ₹48,000 crore were reported within the country in the financial year 2025-26 (FY26). The most worrying thing is that most of the people who became victims of these frauds belonged to the low income group, for whom even an amount of ₹ 10,000 or ₹ 20,000 is like a lifetime savings. To protect the economic interests of this section and maintain public confidence in digital banking, RBI has made this revolutionary change in the compensation rules.
The victim will be entitled to get back 85% of the loss, know what is the mathematics
Under the new rules of RBI, now a person who is a victim of digital fraud will be legally entitled to compensation of up to 85 percent of his total loss. However, the maximum limit for this has been fixed at ₹25,000.
As per the rules, if a customer reports a fraud or unauthorized electronic banking transaction (EBT) in which his total loss is up to ₹50,000, he will be refunded 85% of his net loss or ₹25,000 (whichever amount is lower). But to get this money back, the customer will have to fulfill a very important condition, and that is to file the complaint on time.
Complaint has to be made within 5 days, alert necessary on every transaction above ₹ 500
The central bank has made it clear that the victim of fraud will have to lodge an official complaint with his bank within a maximum of 5 days of getting information about the incident or receiving the message. If the fraud has happened due to lapse or negligence in the security system of the bank, then the bank will have to make full compensation without any hesitation.
Along with this, RBI has made a rule to tighten the reins on the banks that it will be mandatory to send SMS or email alert to the customer on any electronic transaction of more than ₹ 500, so that the customer can immediately detect the fraud.
The case will have to be settled in 45 days, RBI and banks will together bear the burden of expenses.
RBI has instructed banks to drastically improve their complaint system. Now every bank will have to keep a 24/7 working channel or helpline active for registering customer complaints. After receiving the complaint, the bank will have to investigate and resolve the entire matter within a maximum of 45 days. However, if the strings of fraud are connected to foreign countries (International Fraud), then the bank will get 60 days time for this.
What is extraordinary is that in fraud cases of less than ₹29,412, where 85% of the loss is to be paid to the customer, the entire burden will not be borne by the bank. RBI itself will bear 65 percent of this total cost, while 10 percent will have to be borne by the victim customer’s bank and the remaining 10 percent will have to be borne by the bank to which the fraud account has been transferred. This will also increase alertness among banks to prevent fraud.
Huge lack of awareness: Don’t be afraid after being cheated, file a report immediately
Banking experts believe that this new rule of RBI will provide a huge financial security cover to crores of innocent customers, who till now seemed helpless in front of cyber frauds. However, experts also express concern that even today there is a huge lack of awareness about digital fraud in the country. Often people do not lodge a complaint after being cheated due to fear of public shame or police action, which further increases the morale of the fraudsters. Now the time has come to make people aware of this new rule through all means of mass communication, social media and TV advertisements so that every victim can register his complaint in time and get his hard-earned money back.