Sophisticated cyberattacks prompt India’s first AI-based anti fraud

With a surge in digital transactions and a growing reliance on smartphones and laptops for quotidian activities, fraudsters are finding increasingly sophisticated ways to deceive people. Amid this landscape, cybersecurity company Quick Heal launched a new product, AntiFraud.ai to protect users from evolving fraud tactics that have outpaced traditional methods of detection.

For over three decades, Quick Heal has become a household name in protecting consumers from malware and ransomware. But the evolving nature of fraud in the digital age has prompted a new response. "Thirty years ago, it started with a couple of viruses in a month. Now, we’re looking at about five lakh new viruses every day," says Dr Sanjay Katkar, joint managing director, Quick Heal.

While antivirus software remains a critical line of defence, Katkar observes a shift in threats. “We realised a couple of years ago that while viruses and malware have kept evolving, a different kind of threat has started emerging—fraud.”

The challenge for consumers is that fraudsters are now using advanced technology to create more convincing schemes. “It used to be that if you were slightly aware, you could identify a fraud. But today, it's become incredibly difficult to distinguish between what's real and what's fake,” says Sneha Katkar, principal product manager at Quick Heal.

The changing face of fraud

Fraud techniques have evolved rapidly in the digital age. No longer limited to straightforward scams, fraudsters are now using AI and advanced technology to trick even the savviest individuals. What makes today’s frauds especially dangerous, Katkar points out, is their increasing sophistication: “A real message or a fake message will look absolutely similar. It becomes so difficult to distinguish between what’s fake and what’s real.”

Fraud has grown more targeted and personalised. Gone are the days of generic lottery-winning messages. Instead, scammers now send contextually relevant, tailored messages—making their deception harder to spot. “It’s no longer a generic message. It’s very specific to what you do, and that’s why it is becoming more believable in nature,” says Dr Katkar.

The evolving tactics are also hitting those who are typically thought to be well-informed. “The misconception that only senior citizens get defrauded is outdated. Working-class individuals, people who know better, are also victims,” says Katkar.

One of the key findings in Quick Heal’s research was that many fraud victims, despite being aware of common scams, still fall prey because the story presented to them is compelling and seemingly real.

This insight drove the creation of AntiFraud.AI, which acts as a virtual partner, providing real-time alerts to users when it detects suspicious activities. The system is designed to work across multiple devices—smartphones, laptops, and more—using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect patterns of fraudulent behaviour. Quick Heal’s AI-based system analyses a variety of cues to determine whether a call, message, or app might be part of a scam.

“In the last two years of analysing fraud patterns, we’ve seen that fraudsters have specific behaviours, and our AI automatically detects these patterns,” shares Katkar. This allows the product to flag fraudsters in real time, providing users with discreet alerts through their devices.

The product’s pricing starts at ₹750 for a 12-month subscription, making it accessible to a broad audience. While India has historically been a price-sensitive market, Quick Heal believes consumers are becoming more aware of the financial and emotional toll of falling victim to fraud. “We think it’s an attractive price point considering the kinds of losses people suffer due to fraud,” says Katkar.

India, with its massive base of digital users, has become fertile ground for fraudsters. From high-profile cases wherein the chairman of Vardhman Group lost ₹7 crore to a digital arrest scam, to a Pune-based woman who lost ₹3.5 crore to a similar scam; these incidents are just the tip of the iceberg.

And the increasing frequency and scale of fraud in India call for an urgent need for better prevention solutions, especially as the country becomes more digitally connected. As per RBI’s annual report, online fraud cases have risen by 708% in the last two years, and the amount increased by 145%.

“A lot of reforms and a lot of tools need to be given in the hands of cyber and law enforcement guys,” suggests Dr Katkar while adding that there currently isn't a product specifically addressing fraud in the B2C segment and that’s the gap they aim to fill with AntiFraud.ai.