Woman Loses Rs. 87,000: Useful Tips To Stay Safe From UPI Fraud

Digital payment services have brought a lot of convenience as we can send and receive money, pay for purchases, pay utility bills, and a lot more within a few taps. One such feature is UPI (Unified Payments Interface). However, there are fraudsters who are misusing these convenient features and causing distress to users.

UPI Fraud Incident

Recently, a Mumbai-based investment banking analyst, Radhika Parekh, has become a victim of UPI fraud. The banker tried to purchase beer online and lost a whopping Rs. 87,000 to fraudsters. She has tried to contact a local store via a number she found on Google. The staff at the store have requested her to make a payment of Rs. 420 on Google Pay.

Once she received the payment request on Google Pay, her account was debited for Rs. 29,001. She inquired the staff who then apologized that it was their mistake. But soon after the call, her account was debited for Rs. 58,000. She has got to know that the number did not belong to the store she intended to call. And, a case has been registered by the police.

Well, this is not the first time we have come across such an incident. Earlier this year, Anil Padam Singh lost Rs. 1 lakh from his digital wallet account as he called a finance firm to inquire about EMIs on his new phone. As UPI fraud and other such incidents are on the rise, we have come up with a few tips to keep yourself safe from UPI fraud.

Stay Safe From UPI Fraud

It is important to beware of fraudsters. There are some fraudsters who try to persuade you and make you believe that they have sent a request for you to accept advance payment. However, if you accept a request and key in your UPI PIN, your account will be debited of that amount.

The most important aspect is to be careful while dealing with transfer requests on UPI. Whenever you get a request to send a specific amount, you should double-check if the amount is right before accepting it. In this case, Ms. Parekh has accepted the request and authenticated the transaction with her UPI PIN as well. If you face any such issues, you should report the same to the bank and also to the RBI.