41% of online banking users surveyed said that they have experienced interface interference where an interface they were engaging or transacting with was interfered with, and another product or service was presented to them to buy or subscribe to.
32% of online banking users surveyed say that they experienced subscription traps and 39% respondents confirmed that they have experienced Bait and Switch-a product or a service initiated or delivered to them was different than the one they signed up for. These dark patterns lead to erosion of consumer trust in online banking and work against the Government’s Digital India mission. “The survey of over 44,000 respondents who use online banking services and are located across 363 districts of India” the survey said.
Last year, the Reserve Bank of India deputy Governor M. Rajeshwar Rao had issued a warning about the presence of ‘dark patterns’ in the mis-selling of digital loans, where customers are misled into taking high-cost loans. Addressing an industry forum, he stressed, “Dark patterns are design interfaces and tactics used to trick users into desired behaviour such as availing high-cost short-term consumer credit masquerading as an instant loan.