Payment fraud
Merchant QR switch
A swapped QR at a shop or parking lot sends the payment to a mule account.
Warning signs
- 01
The sticker looks new, taped over an older code, or is a loose printout.
- 02
The UPI name on your phone is a person, not the shop you are standing in.
- 03
The attendant rushes you to pay before you read the name.
- 04
A “refund” QR is offered after a failed payment and it asks you to enter a PIN.
- 05
The amount is right, but the receiver is wrong.
Receiving money on UPI does not need your PIN. A QR that asks for a PIN is taking money, not refunding it.