With reports indicating that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can crack over 50% passwords in one minute, the average Indian is susceptible to financial frauds and losing other sensitive information.
According to a survey conducted by LocalCircles, 30% Indians said they share important information such as financial passwords with friends and family and staff, 88% said they have shared their Aadhaar card for several applications, proofs and bookings. Meanwhile, 8% surveyed said they store sensitive information in mobile phone notes while 9% in the mobile contact list.
Nearly 17% people stored information such as bank, ATM, debit/credit card passwords in their mobile contact list or mobile notes.
When asked where do they store their important passwords? 24% of respondents said they mobile phone has been their preferred choice. Out of 11,236 people, 8% indicated mobile phone notes, 9% said mobile contact list and 2% save information in the password app in their phones.
While only 14% said they have their passwords “memorised” while 18% have such details stored on their computer or laptop, and 39% have such important personal data stored in “another place/ way”.
This is a cause of concern as many apps these days seek access to contact lists. The mobile phone notes are also not secure and do not have a password on them to secure them making users vulnerable.
Despite rising data theft and financial frauds, the new survey reveals that there has been a rise in people who use their mobile phones to store sensitive financial information with 17% of those surveyed admitting to doing so.
When asked who all have access to ATM PINs, debit/credit card numbers? 67% revealed that they have not shared such details with anyone while 3% respondents gave no clear response. Meanwhile, 30% respondents still trust their family and friends with important details on their debit/credit cards.
The LocalCircles survey also sought to know the identities that the customer has submitted as a photocopy/printout/digital version of for various applications, proofs, hotels, other bookings in the last five years to which most of 10,650 respondents selected more than one options. The majority of 88% respondents indicated Aadhaar, 58% PAN card, 47% driving licence, 42% passport, 35% voter ID card, and 9% other ID.
The survey also found that 42% of citizens surveyed had faced some type of financial fraud in June 2019-June 2022. It also showed 74% of them failed to get their money back.
The survey received over 32,000 responses from citizens located in 337 districts of India, 65% of which were men and 35% women. 43% of respondents were from tier1, 36% from tier 2 and 27% were from tier 3, 4, and rural districts.
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