A growing flood of suspicious digital messages is quietly consuming people’s time across India. A new survey by online security firm McAfee shows that the average Indian spends about 102 hours every year simply deciding whether messages they receive are real or part of a scam. The findings are part of the 2026 State of the Scamiverse report for India, based on responses from thousands of adults nationwide.
The report highlights how scam attempts have become a routine part of daily digital life. On average, Indians receive 13 scam communications every day through SMS, WhatsApp, email, phone calls and QR codes. Many of these messages closely resemble genuine alerts from banks, delivery services or government bodies, making them harder to identify at a glance. As a result, people are carefully checking each suspicious message, which adds up to significant time spent on scam detection every year.
While awareness of online fraud is increasing, confidence is moving in the opposite direction. Around 40% of respondents said they feel less confident about spotting scams compared with a year ago. At the same time, 82% reported being more cautious when dealing with messages from unknown senders. This shows that people are alert to the risk, but are unsure about their ability to correctly judge what is safe and what is not.
The survey also points to a risky behaviour pattern. Many scam messages do not include links, yet they still draw responses. More than 20% of respondents said they receive suspicious messages without links, and 66% of them replied, assuming the interaction was harmless. Experts warn that replying can trigger the next stage of a scam, such as fake payment requests or QR code fraud. The report explains that AI generated content, realistic templates and the absence of obvious errors have made scams harder to spot, leading to declining trust in digital communication overall.
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