How to Block a Specific VPA or User on UPI

UPI's collect request feature was designed so that merchants and individuals could request money from others. You receive a notification, review the request, and approve or decline it. The problem is that anyone who knows your UPI ID (or even guesses it, since many VPAs follow predictable patterns like mobilenumber@upi) can send you a collect request.

Scammers exploit this in several ways. They send requests with messages like "Refund of Rs. 500" or "Payment pending, approve now" to trick users into authorizing payments. Others send repeated requests to annoy users into responding. During festival seasons, the volume of such spam spikes significantly.

Blocking a UPI ID prevents that specific sender from sending you collect requests in the future. It does not affect your ability to send or receive payments from anyone else. Think of it like blocking a phone number. The blocked party cannot reach you, but everything else works normally.

The blocking process varies by app, but the core steps are similar. You find the spam request or the sender's profile, and use the block or report option.

Google Pay

1. Open Google Pay and go to your transaction history.

2. Find the collect request from the sender you want to block.

3. Tap on the transaction to open the details.

4. Tap the three-dot menu (top right) and select Block user.

5. Confirm the block. The sender will no longer be able to send you requests.

PhonePe

1. Open PhonePe and navigate to the transaction history.

2. Locate the spam collect request.

3. Tap on it and select Report & Block.

4. Choose the reason for blocking (spam, fraud, or other).

5. Confirm. PhonePe will block the UPI ID and report it to the PSP bank.

Paytm

1. Open Paytm and go to your UPI transaction history or pending requests.

2. Find the unwanted request and tap on it.

3. Select Block or Spam from the options.

4. Confirm. The sender is blocked from sending future requests.

Understanding the limits of blocking is important. Here is a clear breakdown:

The critical limitation is that blocking is tied to a specific VPA, not a person's identity. If a scammer creates a new UPI ID, they can send you requests again. This is why reporting (not just blocking) matters, because it helps NPCI and the PSP bank take action against the underlying account.

Beyond blocking individual VPAs, there are broader steps you can take to reduce UPI spam:

1. Do not share your UPI ID publicly. Avoid posting it on social media, public forums, or websites. Once a VPA is out there, it becomes a target.

2. Use a non-obvious VPA. Instead of your mobile number or name, create a UPI ID that is harder to guess. Many apps let you create custom VPAs.

3. Decline, do not ignore. Declining a spam request is better than ignoring it. Some apps use declined requests as a signal to flag the sender.

4. Always report after blocking. Reporting sends a signal to the PSP bank and NPCI. Multiple reports against the same VPA can lead to that account being frozen.

5. Turn off auto-pay permissions for unknown merchants. Review your UPI mandates periodically and revoke any you did not authorize.

If you have lost money to a fraudulent UPI request (you accidentally approved a collect request), blocking alone will not recover your funds. You need to escalate through the proper channels:

1. Raise a complaint in your UPI app. Most apps have a dispute resolution option under transaction history. File the complaint within 24 hours for the best chance of reversal.

2. Contact your bank. Call your bank's customer care and report the unauthorized transaction. Banks are required to acknowledge UPI complaints within 24 hours and resolve them within 30 days.

3. File a complaint on the NPCI portal. Visit npci.org.in and use the UPI dispute redressal mechanism if your bank does not resolve the issue.

4. Report to cybercrime authorities. For significant amounts, file a complaint at cybercrime.gov.in or call the national cybercrime helpline at 1930.

Several common errors make users more vulnerable to UPI spam and fraud:

• Approving collect requests without reading the sender's details. Scammers count on users tapping 'Pay' out of habit.

• Confusing a collect request with a payment received. A collect request asks you to send money. It is not money arriving in your account.

• Sharing your UPI PIN when someone asks you to 'receive' money. You never need to enter your PIN to receive a payment.

• Ignoring repeated spam instead of blocking and reporting. Each unreported spam request lets the scammer continue targeting others.

Stashfin's UPI Money Transfer lets you scan and pay, send money to any UPI ID or mobile number, or move funds to your own bank account. All transactions run on secure bank-to-bank UPI rails, and the app's interface is designed to make it easy to review payment requests carefully before approving, helping you stay in control of every transaction.

• You can block a specific UPI ID on most apps through the transaction history or pending requests section.

• Blocking stops collect requests from that VPA but does not prevent the person from using a different UPI ID.

• Always report spam VPAs after blocking them to help NPCI and PSP banks take action.

• Never approve a collect request without verifying the sender and the reason.

• Use a non-obvious VPA and avoid sharing it publicly to reduce spam.

• If you lose money to fraud, escalate through your app, bank, NPCI, and cybercrime.gov.in in that order.