Financial Literacy: Fraud Prevention and Consumer Protection
Description
This subject develops the ability to recognize and prevent financial fraud across investments, banking, digital payments, and personal data. It explains how common scams operate in India, the regulatory protections available through SEBI, RBI, and other bodies, and the practical steps consumers can take to verify legitimacy, respond quickly to suspicious activity, and exercise their rights through ombudsman and complaint systems.
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this subject, learners will be able to: (1) describe key categories of financial fraud affecting Indian consumers, (2) explain the mechanics of Ponzi schemes, pump-and-dump scams, and other investment frauds, (3) recognize warning signs of fraudulent offers and unregistered intermediaries, (4) understand cyber fraud patterns such as phishing, SIM swap, and UPI app misuse, (5) identify identity theft indicators and credit profile abuse, (6) summarize the role of SEBI, RBI and sectoral regulators in investor and customer protection, (7) use SEBI’s SCORES, RBI’s Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, and other complaint portals to raise grievances, (8) apply due diligence and self-protection checklists before investing or sharing sensitive data, (9) outline steps for reporting fraud to banks, police and cybercrime portals, and (10) support others by spreading awareness of common scams and rights-based remedies.