PhonePe rolls out ‘PhonePe Protect’ tool to block payments to government-flagged fraud numbers: Here’s how it works

PhonePe has introduced ‘PhonePe Protect’, a new security feature to help users avoid fraudulent transactions. This tool warns users if they are about to send money to a suspicious number and shows a ‘PhonePe Protect’ alert during such transactions. If a transaction is blocked for security reasons, the app will also explain why. This system uses data from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) through its ‘Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI)’ feature. It can detect and stop payments to phone numbers marked as risky by the DoT.

PhonePe will automatically block payments to numbers labelled as ‘Very High Risk’ and show a warning message on screen. For ‘Medium Risk’ numbers, it gives users a caution message before allowing the payment. PhonePe is one of the first companies to use this DoT feature.