Big sales bring big crowds, and scammers go where the crowds are. Over the next few weeks you will pay more people, click more offers and get more delivery and payment messages than usual. That is exactly the situation that fraudsters count on. The good news is that most of the tricks depend on one of three mistakes, and all three are easy to avoid once you know them: entering your UPI PIN to receive money, trusting a message under time pressure, or believing a screenshot.
Here are the common scams described by payment and security guides, how each works, and what to do instead.
1. The "refund" that takes money out
You get a payment request labelled as a refund or cashback. You approve it and enter your UPI PIN, expecting money to arrive. It leaves instead. ScanTotal's guide describes this collect-request trick as the most common UPI scam.
The rule: your UPI PIN is only ever needed to send money. If someone asks you to enter it to receive money, stop.
2. The QR code you scan to "receive" payment
Common on online marketplace platforms. A "buyer" sends you a QR code and says it is how they will pay you. Scanning it starts a payment request from your account. The same guide puts it simply: you never scan a QR code to receive money.
3. The fake support agent
Someone claiming to be from your bank, a payment app or a shopping site calls or messages, usually over social media or a phone call. They ask for your PIN, an OTP, or to install a remote-access app such as AnyDesk. ScanTotal notes that no bank or payment company will ever ask for your UPI PIN or OTP, and a screen-sharing request is a red flag by itself.
What to do: hang up, then contact the company through the number printed on its official website or on your card.
4. Messages that scare you into clicking
The classic version is a text saying your account will be suspended or a service will be cut off, with a link to a fake site that collects your banking details. ScanTotal describes this with rail-ticket and utility-bill examples. In sale season the same pattern turns up as "order failed", "delivery attempt missed" or "your refund is waiting". Do not use the link. Open the app or type the site's address yourself.
5. If you sell: the fake payment
Sellers face a different set of tricks. PhonePe's guide for businesses lists edited payment screenshots, counterfeit payment apps that show a false success screen, fake "credited" text messages and cash-exchange requests backed by fake proof. Its warning signs include a payment visible only on the customer's phone, urgency, and screenshots offered as proof.
The rule: check the money in your own bank account or UPI app, match the amount and the transaction reference (UTR), and never hand over goods on a screenshot.
6. The small transfer you are asked to return
A small amount arrives from a stranger and they message you to send it back, often to a different account or ID. ScanTotal says this can draw you into passing on money from stolen accounts. If money you did not expect arrives, do not send it anywhere. Tell your bank and let them handle the reversal.
A timely note on the new UPI charges
A new merchant fee on some UPI payments starts on 15 October. As Business Today's summary of the official FAQs makes clear, that fee falls on merchants, and consumers continue to use UPI free. That makes any message telling you to pay a "UPI charge", or to update your KYC to avoid one, suspicious. This is my inference from how these scams usually follow the news, but the fact underneath it is solid: you are not being charged.
If you have already been scammed
Speed matters most. According to ScanTotal and PhonePe's guide, the steps are:
Call 1930, the national cyber crime helpline, straight away. Have the date, time, amount, payment method and transaction reference ready, but call even if you do not have everything.
File a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, which lists financial fraud as one of its main complaint categories, and keep the complaint number.
Contact your bank with the transaction details and use the dispute option in your UPI app.
File a police complaint at your local station if advised.
PhonePe's guide advises reporting within two hours to give recovery the best chance. Speed matters because, in the system described by GovInfoSecurity, banks can freeze defrauded money only while it is still within their control.
Five habits for the next month
Never enter your UPI PIN to receive money, and never scan a QR code to be paid.
Never share an OTP or PIN, with anyone, for any reason.
Open apps and type addresses yourself instead of tapping links in messages.
Slow down when anything is urgent. Urgency is the scammer's main tool.
Save 1930 in your phone now, and tell one older relative about it.
This is general safety information from public guides; rules and helpline arrangements can change, so confirm current details on the official portal.