What Payment Fraud Scams Target Indian Exporters and How Do You Report Them?

Payment fraud scams targeting Indian exporters fall into a few patterns: fake offers of money from abroad, impersonation of RBI or a known buyer, phishing for bank or card details, and offers to trade forex on unauthorised platforms. Each one tries to make you pay a fee, share credentials or send money to the wrong account.

• Advance fees: Fraudsters promise lottery winnings or cheap funds in foreign currency from abroad, then ask for a currency processing fee, foreign currency conversion fee or prepayment before release (RBI press release, 4 July 2018).
• RBI impersonation: Scam emails use fake RBI letterheads and the names of RBI officials. RBI states that it does not hold any accounts for individuals and does not email or call people about funds received from abroad (RBI press release, 4 July 2018).
• Phishing: Emails and calls ask for bank account numbers, passport details, card CVV or PIN, or lead to a website that looks like RBI's. RBI notes that no bank or respectable organisation asks for these details over email or phone (RBI press release, 1 August 2014).
• Spoofed buyers: A message that appears to come from your client or your own business asks for payment to a new account. Identity theft, spoofing and phishing attacks are a cyber incident category in Annexure I of the CERT-In Directions, 2022.
• Forex platforms: Offers to convert or grow export earnings through online forex trading may come from entities with no RBI authorisation. RBI keeps an Alert List of unauthorised forex trading platforms.
• Third-party money: A buyer overpays or pays from an unrelated person and asks for a refund elsewhere. Third-party receipts for exports need your AD bank to be satisfied with the bona fides of the transaction (Regulation 8, FEMA export regulations 2026).

Most of these scams depend on urgency and on a payment or detail you would not normally give. Treat any request for a fee before you receive money, or any change in bank details, as a reason to stop and check through a channel you already trust.

Every Indian exporter who receives money from abroad is exposed to payment fraud scams, from individual freelancers to companies. The rules that apply after a fraud differ by account type and entity type. Companies have a cyber incident reporting duty to CERT-In, while individuals rely mainly on bank and police reporting.

Indian exporters avoid most payment fraud by confirming every payment through their own bank and verifying any change in bank details with the buyer on a known contact. Money from abroad must reach you through an Authorised Bank or Authorised Person, so a credit in your bank statement is the only proof that you have been paid.

1. Treat a payment as received only when it appears in your own bank statement. Receipts from a person outside India must come through an Authorised Bank or Authorised Person (Regulation 3, FEMA (Manner of Receipt and Payment) Regulations, 2023).
2. When a buyer or supplier asks you to change bank details, call them on a number you already hold, not one given in the new message.
3. Refuse any request to pay a fee, tax or conversion charge to release funds from abroad. RBI lists these demands as the mark of fictitious offers (RBI press release, 4 July 2018).
4. Never share card CVV, PIN, OTP or internet banking details on email or phone (RBI press release, 1 August 2014).
5. Before you deal in foreign exchange through any website or app, check RBI's lists of authorised persons and the Alert List. For payment providers, see how to check RBI authorisation.
6. If a buyer pays from a third party or overpays, tell your AD bank before you refund anything. See third-party payments for exports.
7. For new buyers on credit terms, consider advance payment, a letter of credit or export credit insurance. See advance payment against exports and letters of credit for exporters.

After a payment fraud, an Indian exporter should keep the bank's alert of the transaction, the complaint acknowledgement, the export invoice and all messages with the fraudster or buyer. These records decide your liability with the bank and support any request to your AD bank about an unrealised export. The table lists each record.

When an export payment is lost to fraud, the export stays unrealised in EDPMS and your FEMA and GST obligations continue. You must ask your AD bank to extend the realisation period or reduce the export value. If you supplied under an LUT, IGST with interest can become payable once the payment window passes.

• Realisation: Export value must be realised within nine months of the invoice for services, or twelve months if invoiced in rupees. Your AD bank may extend this if it is satisfied with your reasons (Regulation 5). See extension of the export realisation period.
• Reduction: Your AD bank may allow a reduction in export value, including non-realisation. For invoices up to Rs 10 lakh, your declaration is enough (Regulation 6). See reduction in export invoice value.
• Future exports: If proceeds stay unrealised for more than one year from the due date, further exports can be made only against full advance or an irrevocable letter of credit (Regulation 13).
• GST under LUT: Under an LUT you agree to pay tax with interest if payment for services is not received within one year or the FEMA period with extensions, whichever is later, plus fifteen days (CGST Rule 96A(1)(b)).
• Bank losses: Where you were negligent, for example by sharing credentials, you bear the loss until you report it to the bank (paragraph 7(i), RBI circular of 6 July 2017).

Report the fraud to your bank and on 1930 first, then write to your AD bank with the invoice details and the police or portal complaint number. Ask for an extension or a reduction in export value, and track the entry until it is closed. See EDPMS closure and writing off export bills.

The timeline for payment fraud starts the moment you notice it. Report an unauthorised debit to your bank within three working days, and a body corporate reports listed cyber incidents to CERT-In within 6 hours. The bank must credit disputed amounts within 10 working days. Export realisation deadlines keep running.

• Paying fees: Paying a processing or conversion fee to release funds from abroad. RBI names these fees as the core of fictitious offers (RBI press release, 4 July 2018).
• Late reporting: Waiting before telling the bank. After seven working days, liability depends on the bank's board-approved policy (paragraph 7).
• Trusting screenshots: Shipping or delivering work on the strength of a payment screenshot or a transfer reference. Only a credit in your own bank account counts.
• Unchecked refunds: Refunding an overpayment to a new account without your AD bank's view on a third-party receipt (Regulation 8).
• Ignoring EDPMS: Assuming a lost payment needs no action with the AD bank. The open entry still counts toward the one-year restriction in Regulation 13.
• Forex apps: Moving export earnings into an online forex trading platform without checking RBI's Alert List and its lists of authorised entities.

Every rule, deadline and form on this page is linked to its official source, checked on the dates below.

1. RBI Press Release 2018-2019/34: RBI Cautions about Fictitious Emails (4 July 2018), Fees demanded by fraudsters; RBI does not hold accounts for individuals; official websites; inform police or cybercrime authority (checked 9 Oct 2026)
2. RBI Press Release 2014-2015/228: Do Not give Details of Your Bank Account or Credit/Debit Cards on Email/Phone (1 August 2014), Phishing emails and calls; emails displaying rbi.org.in extension; no bank asks for card or account details by email or phone (checked 9 Oct 2026)
3. RBI circular RBI/2017-18/15: Customer Protection, Limiting Liability of Customers in Unauthorised Electronic Banking Transactions (6 July 2017), Paragraphs 6, 7 (Table 1), 9 and 10 (checked 9 Oct 2026)
4. CERT-In Directions No. 20(3)/2022-CERT-In under section 70B(6) of the IT Act, 2000 (28 April 2022), Directions (ii) and (iv); Annexure I items vii and xiv (checked 9 Oct 2026)
5. RBI Alert List of unauthorised forex trading platforms (updated as on 19 November 2025), Scope of the Alert List; list not exhaustive (checked 9 Oct 2026)
6. PIB release: Protecting Citizens from Digital Fraud Held in Kohima (21 August 2026), National Cyber Crime Helpline 1930; report without delay and contact bank (checked 9 Oct 2026)
7. National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, Ministry of Home Affairs, Reporting of financial fraud (checked 9 Oct 2026)
8. Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026, Notification No. FEMA 23(R)/2026-RB (amended up to 22 September 2026), Regulations 5, 6, 8 and 13 (checked 9 Oct 2026)
9. Foreign Exchange Management (Manner of Receipt and Payment) Regulations, 2023, Notification No. FEMA 14(R)/2023-RB, Regulation 3 (checked 9 Oct 2026)
10. CGST Rules, 2017, Rule 96A (Export of goods or services under bond or Letter of Undertaking), CBIC tax information portal, Rule 96A(1)(b) (checked 9 Oct 2026)
11. ECGC Shipments Comprehensive Risks Policy (SCR), Commercial risks covered; credit limit on buyers (checked 9 Oct 2026)