Gift Card and Recharge Code Payment Scam over the phone

How it looks over the phone, the red flags and what to do.

On a call the pressure is live: no time to read, no time to check, and a rule that you must not tell anyone. Gift Card and Recharge Code Payment Scam is one of the ways this shows up: A caller or chat contact asks you to buy gift vouchers and read out the codes, claiming it fixes a problem. The codes are spent within minutes.

What gift card and recharge code payment scam looks like over the phone

• An unknown or international number, or a number that looks like a real office.
• A calm, official voice that already knows your name or the last digits of your card.
• Being told to stay on the line and not to tell your family.

The set-up depends on the story. In one version a message arrives from a number using your manager's photo, saying he is in a meeting and needs vouchers for a client. In another a caller poses as a tax or telecom officer and says a penalty can be paid only by vouchers. In a third a seller on a marketplace asks to be paid in recharge codes instead of money.

Red flags to check on the phone call

• A government officer or a company says a penalty or fee must be paid with gift vouchers.
• A message from a 'boss' or friend on a new number asks for vouchers urgently.
• You are told not to call or tell anyone.
• Codes must be sent as photos or text rather than redeemed by you.
• The caller asks for an OTP, UPI PIN, card PIN or CVV.
• You are told that a case, arrest, block or penalty is coming within minutes.

What to do

1. Stop buying vouchers and call the person on a number you already know.
2. Remember that no tax office, bank or telecom company takes payment in gift vouchers.
3. Do not share any voucher code, even partly.
4. Call the bank or office on the number printed on your card, bill or official app, not on a number the caller gave.
5. Never share an OTP or PIN. No genuine staff member needs it.
6. If you already installed an app on the call, uninstall it and switch on airplane mode, then call your bank at once.

Report the number on the Sanchar Saathi portal (Chakshu facility). If money moved, call 1930 immediately.

If money or a code is already gone

1. Contact the voucher company through its official app or website and report the codes quickly, as unused value might be frozen.
2. Call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in with the codes and the chat.
3. Tell your bank if you paid for the vouchers by card or UPI.
4. Do not buy more vouchers to 'recover' the earlier ones.

National Cyber Crime Helpline: 1930; report at cybercrime.gov.in.

Paste the chat into Scam check in Safeavio Sentinel to see the reasons it looks risky, such as secrecy and an unusual payment form. Money Shield lets you keep trusted contacts and a family code word, so a message that claims to be a relative or a boss can be tested with a question only the real person knows. Safeavio cannot cancel a voucher or recover money spent.

Full guide: Gift Card and Recharge Code Payment Scam: how it works, signs and what to do. Other channels: WhatsApp, SMS, email.

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