Home » Uncategorized » UPI scams on the rise: Here’s how you can protect yourself

Uncategorized

UPI scams on the rise: Here’s how you can protect yourself

4 months ago
89 Views
3 Min Read
UPI scams

UPI scams on the rise – The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is India’s global success story. UPI facilitated and facilitated digital transactions. However, it is now the simplest method to be duped.

According to the Ministry of Finance, more over 95,000 fraud instances involving UPI transactions were documented in 2022-23, up from 84,000 in 2021-22.

According to a Times of India (TOI) report, Unified Payment Interface (UPI) transactions reached a record high of 865 crores in March 2023, valuing a record of Rs 14.07 lakh crore. The volume of transactions increased by 18% from 728 crores in February 2023.

UPI scams are typically the easiest to perpetrate, but more crucially, it is frequently impossible to reverse the transaction, making it difficult for the victim to establish that he or she has been duped.

UPI scams on the rise

Scammers frequently send a little amount of money to their target and then contact them to correct the error. It is then followed by a request for a larger sum than was agreed upon while on the call. Furthermore, under duress, the targets fall victim by accepting the UPI request and transferring the money after entering their UPI PIN.

The difficulty in investigating UPI frauds stems from the fact that a scam is demonstrated when fraud occurs. In UPI scams, however, the predators ensure that their victims enter the UPI PIN voluntarily and authorise the transaction. There is no way to fix or reverse the problem if a person reveals their UPI PIN with another person. In another situation, if the victim misunderstands the request and enters the PIN on his own, the PIN was entered voluntarily, and thus no case can be built.

Google Pay’s UI has recently been updated to include regular reminders on the app. When a user attempts to send money to an account, GPay now displays a notification at the bottom of the page that needs the user to enter the PIN.

According to the Delhi Police, scammers typically send money to their potential victims via UPI apps such as Paytm, Google Pay, PhonePe, and others, and then call them to claim the money was a mistake, according to the TOI report.

How to stay safe from UPI scams?

  1. DO NOT DISCLOSE YOUR UPI ID OR PIN TO ANYONE. UPI PIN, like CVV and OTP, should not be shared with anybody because access to these numbers allows anyone to directly withdraw money from accounts.
  2. Change your UPI PIN on a regular basis. Changing your UPI PIN frequently helps keep you safe from being hacked.
  3. Do not utilise public Wi-Fi to make UPI payments. It is usually preferable to utilise your own mobile internet or a Wi-Fi connection at home rather than connect to a public network, which could expose your data and bank accounts.