Money Recovery & Chargeback Tool for UPI Fraud, Wrong Transfers and Fake Trading Apps
Tell the tool what happened. It shows which RBI rule protects your money, your exact deadlines and any compensation due, then writes the complaint letters and a one-page case summary that bank staff and police can act on. Free, in English, Bengali and Hindi.
- 100% Free Automated Banking & Legal Documentation Utility
- Runs only in your browser
- Not a recovery agency
- Rules checked on rbi.org.in
Money left your account in the last few hours? Call the National Cyber Crime Helpline first. A report on 1930 reaches the banks in the payment chain within minutes, and they can hold money that has not been withdrawn yet. Then come back here for the letters.
Call 1930Step 1: Check what RBI's rules give you
RBI's protection depends on three things: what kind of loss it was, how you paid, and how quickly you reported it. A different rule applies to transactions from 1 January 2027, when RBI's revised directions take effect. Enter the basics and the tool applies the right one.
Step 2: Build your evidence dossier and letters
Fill in what you know. Only your name and the transactions matter most: the UTR or RRN number (in your UPI app or bank statement) and the account or UPI ID the money went to make every letter far more useful. The tool writes six documents from the same details, so nothing has to be typed twice.
Only the last four digits. Never type a full card number, CVV, PIN or OTP anywhere.
Transactions
The case summary for officials is always in English, the language their systems use.
Subject:
This is the application format in Annex II(1) of RBI/2026-27/167, kept in RBI's English wording. Your bank gives you this form after it accepts your complaint as bona fide; it pays within 5 calendar days of receiving it.
Find the right email address for your bank or district police in the cyber cell and bank nodal officer directory. Attach screenshots of the debit SMS, the chats and the payment screen.
Step 3: Escalate, level by level
Write to your own bank first: it decides your liability and raises the case with the receiving bank. If the reply is unsatisfactory, go to the Nodal Officer, then the Principal Nodal Officer, and after 30 days without a satisfactory reply, to the RBI Ombudsman. Every contact below was checked against the bank's own website on 25 October 2026.
Need a police station's email? Use the full directory for West Bengal, Delhi, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
Which route applies to your money
| What happened | First step | RBI rule | What you can get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unauthorised transaction | 1930, then your bank | 2017 circular to 31 Dec 2026; RBI/2026-27/167 from 1 Jan 2027 | Third-party breach: zero liability if reported in 3 working days (2017 rules) or 5 calendar days (2027 rules). Bank fault: zero liability. OTP or PIN shared: you bear the loss until you report. |
| You shared an OTP or PIN, or approved the payment | 1930, then your bank | Same | Until 2026: loss is yours until reported. From 2027: 85% of net loss, up to ₹25,000, for losses up to ₹50,000, once in a lifetime, if reported to your bank and 1930 or the portal within 5 calendar days and your bank accepts the loss as genuine |
| Failed transaction | Your bank or UPI app | RBI/2019-20/67 | Automatic reversal, and ₹100 for every day of delay |
| Wrong account or UPI ID | Your bank, the same day | No RBI fraud rule applies | Return with the recipient's consent, or through a court |
| Fake trading or investment app | 1930 and the police | Usually treated as authorised | Money frozen in time can be released through the police or a court |
Chargeback, reversal and refund: what is possible
A card chargeback is the dispute route for card payments. Your bank raises a dispute through Visa, Mastercard or RuPay, citing a reason code: for card-absent fraud, Visa uses dispute condition 10.4 and Mastercard reason code 4837; for goods or services not received, Visa uses 13.1 and Mastercard 4853. For RuPay, your bank picks the code under NPCI's dispute rules. Your bank chooses and confirms the final code.
What Mastercard's own Chargeback Guide (Merchant Edition, 13 May 2025) requires:
- 4837 “No Cardholder Authorization”: you tell your bank in writing that you did not authorise the payment; the bank reports it to Mastercard as fraud before raising the chargeback, usually within 120 days of the transaction being processed. It is not available for ATM withdrawals or payments made with your PIN, and usually not for online payments authenticated with a one-time password (Mastercard Identity Check / 3-D Secure). Those claims rest on RBI's liability rules instead.
- 4853 “Cardholder Dispute”: for a purchase you made yourself, when the goods or services were not provided, not as described or defective, counterfeit, a refund was not processed, or a cancelled subscription was still charged. For “not as described”, you must first have contacted, or tried to contact, the merchant. For investment, trading or gambling deposits it covers only money that never appeared in the promised account, not blocked withdrawals, “profits” or losses. The usual limit is 120 days from the transaction or the promised delivery date.
UPI and bank transfers have no card-network chargeback. UPI has its own dispute process under NPCI's rules. For a UPI payment to a merchant, raise a dispute in the UPI app you used; it goes to your bank through NPCI's dispute system, and the route and time limit depend on the type of transaction, so ask your bank which applies. For a fraud transfer to a person, what matters is how fast the receiving account is frozen through 1930. A reversal happens automatically for failed transactions, under RBI's turnaround-time rules. A refund is the merchant's own decision, outside both.
Lost money to a fake trading or investment app
Fake trading apps, "VIP" stock groups and task scams usually let you see fake profits, then ask for a "withdrawal fee" or "tax" when you try to take money out. Stop paying at once: every extra payment goes to the same people.
- Call 1930 and file on cybercrime.gov.in under Online Financial Fraud with every transaction, the app's name and link, and the WhatsApp or Telegram numbers you dealt with.
- File a police complaint. Frozen money is returned through the police and, usually, a court order.
- SEBI's SCORES portal handles complaints only against SEBI-registered entities, within one year. Most fake apps are not registered, so SCORES cannot act on them. Check any "broker" on SEBI Check before paying, and pay a registered intermediary only through its validated @valid UPI ID.
- Anyone who offers to "recover" the money for a fee is running a second scam. Police and banks never charge to investigate.
For bank staff, police and SEBI investigators
The case summary for officials puts everything you need on one page, in English: the complainant's details, the case type and the RBI framework that applies, the NCRP category, every transaction with its date, amount and UTR or RRN, the beneficiary or suspected mule accounts with totals, the platform and the fraudster's identifiers, and a suggested card dispute reason code. Fields are in the order a complaint system asks for them, so data entry takes a minute.
If you work in a branch, a cyber cell or a grievance team, you are welcome to point complainants to this page: they arrive with their facts in order. The tool runs entirely in the complainant's browser and stores nothing.
Protect yourself before the next attempt
People who lose money once are often targeted again within days. A few changes cut the damage the next scam can do.
- Keep a separate account for UPI. Link UPI to a second savings account with a small balance, and keep your savings where UPI cannot reach them.
- Pay online with a credit card where you can. Disputes are easier and, from 2027, fraud on a credit card gets a provisional reversal within five days. Pay the bill in full each month.
- Invest only through SEBI-registered brokers and advisers, checked on SEBI Check, and pay them only to a validated @valid UPI ID.
- Use free official protection: Google Play Protect, CERT-In's free tools at csk.gov.in, and Chakshu on sancharsaathi.gov.in to report fraud calls.
Disclosure: links marked "Sponsored" are affiliate links. If you sign up through them, IFSC Bank Guide may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes what this page says about your rights. This page is investor education only: it gives no securities tips and makes no claims about returns, which SEBI's rules (circular SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD-1/P/CIR/2024/143, 22 October 2024, and CIR/2025/11, 29 January 2025) require of anyone a SEBI-registered broker is associated with. Always check a broker on SEBI Check before you pay.
Questions people ask
Can I get my money back after a UPI fraud?
Often, if you act within hours. Call 1930 so the receiving account can be frozen while the money is still there, and report to your bank the same day. Whose fault it was decides your liability. If the bank was at fault, you bear no loss whether or not you report. If the fraud came from a breach elsewhere in the system and you report in time, you bear no loss. If you shared an OTP or PIN, you bear the loss until you report it. From 1 January 2027, even victims who shared an OTP can get 85% of a loss of up to ₹50,000, capped at ₹25,000, once in a lifetime — provided they report the fraud to both their bank and 1930 or cybercrime.gov.in within five calendar days, and the bank establishes under its policy that the loss is genuine.
What is the time limit to report bank fraud for a refund?
For transactions up to 31 December 2026, a third-party breach gives zero liability if you report to your bank within 3 working days of its alert; between 4 and 7 working days your liability is capped. If the bank was at fault, you bear no loss whether or not you report. For transactions from 1 January 2027, a third-party breach needs a report within five calendar days of the fraud, and compensation also needs a report to 1930 or cybercrime.gov.in within those five days. The 2026 directions (RBI/2026-27/167) cover commercial banks only; small finance banks, payments banks, regional rural banks and local area banks are outside them.
Money went to the wrong account or UPI ID. How do I get it back?
Call your bank with the UTR or RRN the same day and send a written request; for UPI, also raise a dispute in the app. Your bank asks the receiving bank to contact its customer. The money can be returned only with that person's consent or a court order, so if they refuse, file a police complaint and take legal advice.
What compensation does RBI give for a failed transaction?
Under RBI/2019-20/67, a UPI or IMPS transfer that debits you but does not reach the receiver must be reversed by the next day (T+1). A failed ATM withdrawal, UPI merchant payment or card payment must be reversed within T+5 days. After that, the bank must credit ₹100 for every day of delay, without you claiming it.
How do I recover money lost to a fake trading app?
Stop paying, call 1930, file on cybercrime.gov.in with every transaction and the app's details, and file a police complaint. Recovery depends on freezing the money before it moves on. RBI's compensation does not expressly cover payments made freely after being misled, but report to your bank anyway, because it decides eligibility.
What is a chargeback, and when can I ask for one?
A chargeback is a card dispute that your bank raises with the card network to take money back from the merchant's bank. It applies to debit and credit card payments, for example when a transaction was not authorised or goods were never delivered. UPI and bank transfers have no card-network chargeback; UPI has its own dispute process under NPCI rules, started from the UPI app.
Will a 1930 complaint get my money refunded or my account unfrozen?
A 1930 report makes banks put a hold on money in the receiving accounts. That money is returned to victims through the police and, usually, a court order. If your own account was frozen because it received disputed money, ask your bank for the complaint details and contact the police station that asked for the freeze.
Is this a recovery agency? Does it cost anything?
No and no. This is a free documentation tool that runs in your browser. It does not contact anyone, hold money or act for you, and nothing you type is sent or stored.
What this tool is, and what it is not
This is a free automated banking and legal documentation utility. It is not a bank, a recovery agency, a law firm or a government service, and it is not affiliated with RBI, NPCI, SEBI, NSE, BSE or any police force. It explains published rules and drafts letters from what you type; it does not give legal advice or guarantee any outcome. Your bank, the police, the RBI Ombudsman or a court decide your case. Everything runs in your browser: nothing you type is uploaded, logged or stored.
Official sources
- RBI/2026-27/167, DOR.MCS.REC.No.130/01-01-032/2026-27, 24 June 2026: Commercial Banks – Responsible Business Conduct Third Amendment Directions, 2026
- RBI/2019-20/67, 20 September 2019: Harmonisation of TAT and customer compensation for failed transactions
- RBI circular DBR.No.Leg.BC.78/09.07.005/2017-18, 6 July 2017: Customer protection – limiting liability in unauthorised electronic banking transactions
- RBI Complaint Management System – Integrated Ombudsman
- Mastercard Chargeback Guide – Merchant Edition, 13 May 2025 (reason codes 4837 and 4853)
- SEBI SCORES – frequently asked questions
- National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (Ministry of Home Affairs)
- Visa – Dispute management guidelines (dispute conditions 10.4 and 13.1)
Bank contacts in Step 3 come from each bank's own website; the source is shown with each bank.
Rules were checked against the original RBI notifications on rbi.org.in on 25 October 2026. Rules and limits change: confirm the current position with your bank or at rbi.org.in before acting on a specific figure. This page is general information, not legal advice.