To curb rising digital payment frauds, the Reserve Bank of India had come out with a discussion paper proposing several new security measures, including delays in some fund transfers, additional checks for vulnerable users, limits on suspicious accounts and an emergency mechanism for customers to immediately block transactions. The central bank has sought feedback on the proposals by May 8, 2026. A key recommendation is the introduction of a one-hour cooling-off period for account-to-account transfers of more than Rs 10,000 made by individuals, sole proprietors and partnership firms. These transactions currently do not offer any chargeback option in case of fraud. The proposed delay can be applied on the sender’s side, on the receiver’s side, or both. According to data from the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, the limit has been set at Rs 10,000 as such transfers account for around 45% of fraud cases and account for around 98.5% of the total value. According to ET, the paper also focuses on the safety of senior citizens and persons with disabilities. For transactions above Rs 50,000, the RBI has suggested introducing an additional verification step, which may include approval from a pre-nominated trusted person. Data indicates that approximately 92% of fraud losses by value occur in transactions above this level, often associated with impersonation and social engineering scams. Among other measures, the RBI has proposed to give users more direct control over their banking activity. Customers can be allowed to turn specific payment channels on or off, set their own transaction limits, and activate a “kill switch” to immediately stop all digital payments. This facility can be provided through mobile banking, internet banking, bank branches and IVR services. To tackle misuse of bank accounts by fraudsters, commonly called mule accounts, the central bank has suggested raising the annual credit limit to Rs 25 lakh for accounts in which due diligence has not been done, the financial daily reported. Accounts requiring higher limits will need to provide additional verification related to their business activities and funding sources. These proposals come at a time when digital payment adoption and incidents of fraud have increased rapidly. Over the past decade, digital transactions have grown at a compound annual rate of 53%. Meanwhile, reported fraud cases have increased from 2.6 lakh in 2021 to 28 lakh in 2025, with the total value rising from Rs 551 crore to about Rs 22,931 crore. This surge is driven by methods like deepfakes, networks of fake call centers and mule accounts.