Click, trap, pay: The troubling reality of digital financial platforms

By Surbhi Sood, Senior Manager, MSC and Akhand Jyoti Tiwari, Senior Partner, MSC

India’s digital economy has transformed lives. Affordable smartphones and faster networks have enabled 969 million Indians to access the internet, with millions using apps for payments, savings, credit, and investments. These platforms are fast, convenient, and increasingly central to our financial lives.

But hidden within this convenience is a troubling reality: manipulative interface designs, or dark patterns. These are deliberate choices in app or website design that trick or pressure users into making decisions against their best interest—signing up for services they don’t want, paying fees they did not expect, or sharing more data than they intended.

The hidden traps behind the screen
Dark patterns are no accident; they are intentional. A woman in Kerala, desperate for emergency cash, downloaded a lending app that promised “instant, no-documentation loans.” What she got ...