India is under attack. In the first half of 2024 alone, Indian organisations faced 135,173 financial phishing attacks — a staggering 175% increase from the same period the previous year. By 2025, the threat had escalated further: India's I4C projects ₹1.2 lakh crore in annual cybercrime losses, driven predominantly by phishing, UPI scams, and Business Email Compromise.
The common thread in almost every incident? A human being clicked something they should not have.
Over 90% of all cyberattacks begin with phishing as the initial vector. No firewall stops a well-crafted email. No antivirus prevents a trained employee from voluntarily handing over credentials. The only effective defence is an educated workforce.
Here are the 10 phishing attacks hitting Indian organisations hardest — and exactly what your team needs to know to stop them.
1. CEO Fraud / Business Email Compromise (BEC)
What it is: The attacker impersonates your CEO, CFO, or a senior executive via email, WhatsApp, or even AI-generated voice calls. They instruct a finance team member to urgently transfer funds to a new account, pay a vendor invoice, or share sensitive credentials. The "urgency" bypasses normal approval processes.
Why it works in India: Indian workplace culture often discourages questioning authority. An email from the CEO asking to "handle this quietly" creates enormous psychological pressure to comply without verification.
Real numbers: BEC caused $2.77 billion in losses from 21,442 complaints to the FBI in 2024 alone. The average BEC attack costs $4.67 million (IBM 2025). In India, deepfake-based BEC attacks using AI-generated voice recordings of executives surged dramatically through 2025 and 2026.
How to stop it: Implement a strict two-person authorisation policy for any wire transfer above a defined threshold, regardless of who requests it. Train finance teams to call-verify any payment instruction received via email, even from known addresses. Never transfer money based solely on an email.
2. UPI and Payment App Phishing
What it is: Fake UPI payment requests, fraudulent Google Pay/PhonePe notifications, and spoofed bank SMS messages that trick employees into approving payments or revealing PINs. India's UPI infrastructure processes over 15 billion transactions monthly — making it an irresistible target.
Why it works: The volume of legitimate UPI notifications means employees are conditioned to act quickly without scrutinising each one. Attackers exploit this reflex.
How to stop it: Train employees that legitimate UPI transactions never require you to enter a PIN to receive money. Any request asking for PIN to receive funds is always a scam, without exception.
3. Spear Phishing Using LinkedIn Data
What it is: Attackers scrape Indian professionals' LinkedIn profiles to craft hyper-personalised emails. They know your name, your company, your manager's name, your recent projects, and even your job title. The email appears to come from a trusted colleague, vendor, or industry contact.
Why it works: Generic phishing fails because people spot the impersonal language. Spear phishing succeeds because it feels personal and familiar. Recipients let their guard down.
How to stop it: Train employees to verify any unexpected email requesting action — even if it appears to come from someone they know. A quick phone call to the apparent sender takes 30 seconds and has prevented millions in losses.
4. Fake IT Support / Helpdesk Phishing
What it is: Employees receive emails or calls from "IT Support" warning them that their account has been compromised, their VPN license has expired, or their email storage is full. They are directed to a convincing fake login portal to "verify their credentials."
Why it works: IT support messages create anxiety and urgency. Employees are conditioned to respond quickly to IT issues to avoid disruption.
How to stop it: Establish a clear policy — your IT team will never ask for passwords via email or phone. Teach employees to access company portals directly by typing the URL, never by clicking links in emails.
5. QR Code Phishing (Quishing)
What it is: A newer and rapidly growing attack vector. Attackers embed malicious QR codes in emails, printed posters in office lobbies, or fake vendor invoices. Scanning the QR code redirects to a credential-harvesting page. Unlike URL links, QR codes bypass most email security scanners because they appear as innocent images.
Why it works: QR codes have become ubiquitous in India post-COVID — menus, payments, forms. Employees scan them reflexively without considering the destination.
How to stop it: Train employees to preview QR code destinations before visiting them. Use a QR scanner app that shows the URL before opening it. Be especially sceptical of QR codes in printed materials you cannot verify.
6. Fake Job Offer Phishing
What it is: Fraudulent job offers from fake HR departments of well-known Indian companies. The email asks candidates to fill out a form (harvesting personal data), download an attachment (containing malware), or pay a "registration fee" (financial fraud).
Why it works: India's large job-seeking population makes this attack particularly effective. The lure of a better job offer from a reputable company overrides normal caution.
How to stop it: Verify job offers directly through the company's official website. Legitimate employers never ask for money at any stage of the hiring process.
7. Invoice Fraud Targeting Accounts Payable
What it is: Attackers intercept or spoof vendor email communications to change bank account details on invoices. The accounts payable team, following a normal process, pays the correct invoice amount — to the wrong account.
Why it works: AP teams process dozens of invoices daily. A single changed bank account number on an otherwise legitimate invoice easily slips through.
How to stop it: Any change to vendor bank account details must be verified via a direct phone call to a previously verified contact — not to any number provided in the email requesting the change.
8. Government and Tax Department Impersonation
What it is: Emails impersonating the Income Tax Department, GSTIN, MCA, or SEBI — warning of penalties, demanding immediate payment, or requesting sensitive documents. The fake portals look identical to real government sites.
Why it works: Government communication triggers fear and immediate compliance. The consequences of ignoring a tax notice feel too serious to risk.
How to stop it: Real government communication arrives via official channels — registered mail, officially verified emails from `.gov.in` domains, and notices on the official portal. Train employees never to act on government impersonation emails without verification through official channels.
9. Supply Chain Phishing
What it is: Rather than attacking a large, well-defended organisation directly, attackers compromise a smaller vendor or supplier in its supply chain. Once inside the vendor's systems, they send convincing emails from the vendor's legitimate email address to the target organisation.
Why it works: The email comes from a real, trusted email address. It passes all technical security checks. Only the content — requesting a wire transfer, clicking a link — reveals the attack.
How to stop it: Apply the same verification standards to emails from known vendors as to unknown senders if the email contains unusual requests. Compromise a vendor, compromise their clients.
10. AI-Generated Deepfake Voice Phishing (Vishing)
What it is: Using AI voice-cloning tools, attackers replicate the voice of a CEO, CFO, or board member and call employees directly. The call instructs an urgent action — transfer funds, share access credentials, or approve a transaction. The voice sounds indistinguishable from the real person.
Why it works: Humans are hardwired to trust a familiar voice. This attack completely bypasses email security and exploits our deepest social instincts. Mid-sized Indian businesses are particularly vulnerable — the impersonation quality exceeds what traditional training prepares employees to recognise.
How to stop it: Establish a verbal code word — a pre-agreed phrase known only to your senior leadership team — that must be used in any urgent financial instruction call. No code word, no transaction.
The Common Thread: Human Vulnerability
Every attack on this list succeeds not because of a technical flaw — but because a human being was manipulated into taking an action. Firewalls, antivirus software, and email filters are necessary but insufficient. They do not address the actual attack surface: your people.
The organisations that significantly reduce their phishing risk share one characteristic — they invest in regular, engaging security awareness training that keeps employees sharp to evolving threats.
What Effective Training Looks Like
Not all security training is equal. Annual compliance checkboxes that employees rush through to get the green tick do not change behaviour. Effective training is:
CyberSek's phishing awareness modules are built by offensive security researchers who run real penetration tests. We know what works because we have seen it from the attacker's side.
Written by Namita Kumari | Security Awareness Specialist at CyberSek
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