Security and Privacy Advice for UPI Users in India
Deepthi Mungara
34th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security '25) · Day 3 · Usable Privacy and Security 3
India's **Unified Payments Interface (UPI)** stands as a monumental success in digital finance, connecting millions of users from street vendors to online shoppers. Facilitating transactions from a mere 1 Indian Rupee up to 1 lakh Indian Rupees per day (approximately $1 to $1,000 USD), UPI has become the backbone of India's digital economy. In the last financial year, it processed an astounding 2.57 trillion USD, accounting for 85% of India's digital payment volume and nearly half of all global real-time payments. However, this explosive growth has unfortunately been mirrored by a sharp increase in fraud cases, with roughly one in five Indian users experiencing a UPI-related attack since 2022, making up 55% of all digital payment frauds.
AI review
A usable social science study dressed up as a security conference talk. The core finding — users don't read or absorb official security advice — is not a novel insight, and the UPI-specific wrapper doesn't change that. Belongs in a CHI or SOUPS proceedings discussion, not a USENIX Security slot.