In 2025, digital lending fraud evolved from opportunistic to organized and automated, becoming industrialized. Fraudsters utilized sophisticated playbooks and large networks of mule accounts to fragment and disperse funds rapidly, complicating recovery efforts. The shift moved from document manipulation to identity-led abuse, with synthetic identities and account takeovers becoming more common. This rapid execution, especially in markets like India with instant payments, compressed intervention windows, making fraud a pervasive challenge.