Mobile Wallet Fraud: Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay Will Refund Full Money [RBI Order]

There have been numerous unfortunate incidents wherein people were duped of several lakhs of rupees from their account through UPI transfer or other such mediums.

We have good news for users of such digital payment apps and all the victims – RBI has announced that in case such incidents occur, the exact amount of money will be reimbursed to the victim by the eWallet company.

Demonetization gave birth to a lot of online payment platforms, like PhonePe, GooglePay, Paytm, AmazonPay where one can transfer money from one eWallet to another, thus wiping out the need of actual cash. These apps and websites slowly progressed to UPI payments, which enables users to transfer and receive money directly through their bank accounts.

After this, KYC came along, and bank accounts were linked to phone numbers and Aadhaar numbers. This started giving rise to a series of events where people were robbed of their hard-earned money within minutes.

New Rules by the RBI

There is a set of rules set by the Government, to avoid such mishaps in future:

• After February 2019, users will not be able to use such platforms without KYC (Know Your Customer) verification.
• The said companies, like Paytm, PhonePe, AmazonPay, GooglePay, will have to give their contact details like phone number, email id, etc. This is so that the customer can contact the company to report anything fishy.
• These mobile wallet apps will have to ensure that customers register their phone numbers and email ids for SMS alerts, emails, and notifications on their phones and emails.
• A 24*7 customer care service has been made mandatory by the companies for the customers to contact them regardless of time, as previously, a customer was robbed of a whopping Rs. 1.86 crore within the time period of 11 pm to 2 am.
• Given that a customer faces a mishap due to negligence/deficiency/fraud on the mobile wallet company, and reports the wrong transaction within 3 days, the entire amount will have to be refunded by the company.
• Even if the user does not register a complaint, the company is bound to initiate the process of refund.
• If the incident is reported within 4 to 7 days, the transaction amount or Rs. 10, 000 rupees, whichever is lower, should be refunded by the company.
• If reported after 7 days, the refund will be according to the refund policy of the concerned mobile eWallet company.
• The registered cases will have to be solved within 10 days of reporting the fraud. Additionally, all complaints and disputes will have to be resolved within 90 days irrespective of who is at fault. If the complaint is not solved within 90 days, the customer will be refunded the full amount of fraud reported.

We hope that these rules are strictly followed, and help mobile wallet customers in India to cope with such frauds.

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