GST Refund Agent 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. GST Refund Agent Scam is one of the ways this shows up: An agent or caller claims a large GST refund is pending and asks for a fee, login or OTP to release it. See how small businesses are cheated.

What gst refund agent scam looks like over the phone

• 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.
• Instructions to install a screen-sharing app or to press keys on the phone.

Scammers use public information such as business names and GST numbers listed on invoices or directories. They call with the correct trade name and say that a refund is stuck due to a 'mismatch' that only they can clear. Some pose as a department officer, others as a consultant with 'insider access', and they speak with the language of returns and credits.

Red flags to check on the phone call

• A refund that requires a fee to a personal account.
• A request for your GST portal login or OTP.
• A notice with a link to a portal address you do not recognise.
• A promise of a large refund from an unknown caller.
• You are told that a case, arrest, block or penalty is coming within minutes.
• You are asked to move money to a "safe account".

What to do

1. Do not click the link or share a login or OTP.
2. Check refund status on the official GST portal typed by hand with your own login.
3. Ask your accountant or tax professional to verify any notice.
4. Tell a family member and report the number on the Sanchar Saathi portal (Chakshu facility).
5. Hang up. A real bank or office will not mind that you call them back.
6. Call the bank or office on the number printed on your card, bill or official app, not on a number the caller gave.

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. Change your portal password and check the registered mobile number and email.
2. Call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in if money was paid or lost.
3. Tell your bank on the number printed on your card about any suspicious transfer.
4. Inform your accountant and review filings made in your name.

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

Safeavio's link check can look at a refund link from an email or chat before you open it and warn about lookalike portal addresses, and the scam check on pasted text marks the fee, the OTP request and the deadline. It cannot log in to a tax portal or confirm a refund, so use the official GST portal and your accountant for that.

Full guide: GST Refund Agent Scam: how it works, signs and what to do. Other channels: email, WhatsApp, SMS.

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