Scams, Fraud & Digital Financial Safety

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 recognizes the importance of developing awareness, skills, and responsible practices for meaningful and safe engagement with technology. It emphasizes the need to enable learners and citizens to understand the potential and effects of technology, make informed choices, and develop awareness of privacy, laws, ethical issues, and data protection in the digital environment (Chapter 23: Technology Use and Integration). With the growing use of digital platforms, online services, and digital payment systems, awareness of scams, fraud, and financial risks has become an important aspect of digital literacy. In this context, training on Scams, Fraud & Digital Financial Safety aims to equip learners, teachers, teacher educators, parents, and other stakeholders with the knowledge and skills to identify common digital scams, recognise fraudulent messages and requests, safeguard personal and financial information, use digital payment services carefully, and respond appropriately to suspected fraud. Such capacity-building initiatives can promote informed decision-making, responsible digital practices, and greater awareness of financial safety in an increasingly digital environment, in line with the broader vision of NEP 2020 for safe, ethical, and responsible use of technology. The rapid expansion of digital payments, online banking, e-commerce and technology-enabled financial services has transformed the way individuals and businesses access and manage money. Alongside these developments, however, there has been a corresponding rise in sophisticated scams and financial fraud, including phishing, smishing, vishing, investment and loan scams, job and romance frauds, identity theft, account takeovers and AI-enabled impersonation. The increasing use of social engineering, deceptive digital interfaces and emerging technologies has made financial scams more difficult to recognise and prevent. In this context, strengthening digital financial awareness and building practical capacities to identify, prevent and respond to scams is essential for creating a safer and more resilient digital environment.

Recognizing the growing need to strengthen awareness and protective skills among educators and learners, CIET-NCERT is organizing an online training programme on “Scams, Fraud and Digital Financial Safety” in collaboration with CYBERPEACE (Training & Capacity Building) . The training aims to promote safe, responsible, and positive use of technology and help everyone become a more aware and responsible digital citizen. The programme will also support understanding cyber risks, follow safe digital practices, protect children from online threats, and respond appropriately to cyber incidents.