The government has decided to delete those Unified Payments Interface (UPI) IDs that are linked to closed mobile numbers from April 1. According to a report by news website Live Mint, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has decided to close these IDs. After this, users will not be able to use online payment apps like Google Pay, Paytm, or PhonePe. Do you also want to know how you can keep your UPI account safe? So let’s know.
Who will be harmed
NPCI’s announcement may affect users who have changed their mobile number but have not updated it with the bank. They will lose their access from April 1. Apart from this, people who have deactivated their mobile numbers and have not updated them with the bank and UPI users whose numbers have been reassigned to someone else are also at risk of losing access. Also, inactive numbers that are not used for services like calls, messaging, etc. will also be deleted.
How to avoid losing access to online payment apps
According to the report, users should ensure that the mobile numbers linked to their bank accounts are active. If not, users should activate them. Users should try to get a new mobile number if any of their numbers that are linked to UPI IDs are inactive.
Reasons behind this new move by NPCI
Citing security concerns, NPCI has said that UPI IDs linked to inactive mobile numbers are ‘at risk’. It said, many users who change or deactivate their numbers often forget to delete their UPI IDs, which can be misused by fraudsters in the future. The move comes at a time when there has been a huge rise in the number of scams, in which many people have lost their money.
To deal with such a situation, NPCI has asked banks and payment apps to remove these inactive mobile numbers from their UPI network. NPCI has asked banks and payment apps to regularly monitor and delete mobile numbers that are inactive, dormant, or reassigned to someone else. Before cancelling the services, banks have been asked to send notifications about it to users. However, if users do not follow the above steps, the UPI ID will be deleted to avoid the risk of fraud.