Law
Enforcement
Policy

These guidelines are provided for use by government and law enforcement agencies within India when seeking information from PhonePe Private Limited about transactions pertaining to PhonePe and its group entities. PhonePe reserves the right to make amends to these guidelines as necessary.

All other requests for information regarding PhonePe customers, including customer questions about information disclosure, should be directed to https://www.phonepe.com/privacy-policy/. Also, please note that these Guidelines do not apply to requests made by government and law enforcement agencies outside India to PhonePe.

PhonePe has a centralized process for receiving, tracking, processing, and responding to legitimate legal requests/Notices from government agencies, law enforcement agencies. A trained team in our Cybercell department reviews all notices/requests received, and requests for which PhonePe determines to have no valid legal basis or considers to be unclear, inappropriate are objected to or rejected.

“LEA” - Law Enforcement Agencies responsible for enforcing the Law, such as Police Officials, CBI Officials, Anti-Corruption Bureau Officers etc. and also includes Government Agencies/Authorities/Tribunals (e.g. SEBI, Forest Department amongst others).

“PPI” - As per RBI guidelines provided under the Payment and Settlement Act, 2005 Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) as instruments of payment that facilitate buying of goods and services, including the transfer of funds, financial service, and remittances, against the value stored within or on the instrument.

“UPI” - Unified Payments Interface (UPI) allows multiple bank accounts under one payment app to make seamless fund transfer and merchant payment (Online & Offline). It also allows Peer to Peer, Collects request, Scheduled payments as per one's convenience Third-Party.

“Nodal Account” - Nodal accounts or nodal bank accounts are special internal bank accounts that are mandated by the RBI for businesses that are intermediaries, connecting customers to sellers.

“TPAP” - Third-Party Application Provider (TPAP) is an entity that provides the UPI compliant app(s) to the end-user customers to facilitate UPI based payment transactions.

“VPA” - Unique Virtual Payment Account, registered with NPCI that can be linked with your Bank account.

External VPA - External VPA is a Virtual payment account that doesn't belong to the PhonePe User.

“P2P” - Peer to Peer transaction allows a person to send or receive funds via a mobile number from another UPI id. P2P is the same as we do IMPS through net-banking.

“P2M” - Peer to Merchant transaction allows a person to pay to an offline/online merchant via QR scan or mobile number.

“PSP Bank” - PSP is the banking company authorized to act as a Payment Service Provider (PSP) under the UPI framework. PSP engages the TPAP to provide UPI services to end-user customers.

“Merchant Account” - A merchant account is established under an agreement between an acceptor and a merchant acquiring bank for the settlement of payment done towards the merchant.

“Bank Account/ Payment Account” - Any bank account or other payment accounts offered by a regulated entity where money can be held, money can be debited from, and credited to.

“UPI PIN” - Personal Identification Number which is used as authorization credentials by the Issuer Bank for debiting a customer's account. It will be 4-6 digits numeric PIN only.

• PhonePe accepts the request for information/details from the LEAs, provided these are officially transmitted from the respective official email address (nic.in/gov.in) of the LEAs.
• LEA Personnel submitting a legal request to PhonePe should transmit it directly by logging on to PhonePe’s web portal i.e., https://cybercell.phonepe.com/ through their official Email ID and mobile number. The request shall be submitted along with the process documents which are to be attached in PDF format.
• The Complaint/Request/Notice uploaded by LEAs on the web portal shall clearly specify the law under which the Information is sought.
• Where requests contain fraud transaction details, beneficiary merchant/bank, and fraudster identification, such as KYC, Device Serial/IMEI numbers, IP-Address, Geo-Location, Email address, and Receiver mobile number, these should be transmitted. Identifiers such as these are generally required to conduct thorough investigations for information related to devices, accounts, or financial transactions.
• When LEAs have raised a request for information to PhonePe via web portal i.e., https://cybercell.phonepe.com/, a physical copy of the same need not be served separately.
• The abovementioned web portal is intended to be used solely by LEA Personnel and no other person.

• PhonePe carefully reviews all notices received (either physically or electronically) from Law Enforcement Agencies to ensure that the received notice is valid for each request.
• For processing purposes and due to system limitations, LEAs are requested to seek information for only up to 10 transactions in a single notice. In case, the notice comprises more than 10 transactions, requests can be raised in batches of 10 each.
• If PhonePe finds any request unclear or inappropriate or incomplete, PhonePe will raise its concerns the same with the LEA seeking further clarification on the same.
• PhonePe shall make all the endeavors to provide the requisite information within a reasonable time, however for transactions older than Six (6) months, retrieval of information shall take some additional time.

The Requests made in the following manner cannot be fulfilled by PhonePe.

• Unwritten requests such as oral/on-call.
• Requests not accompanied by a scanned copy of the Letter/Notice with an official seal and the sign of the issuing officer of LEAs.
• Requests raised without mentioning the legal provision under which information is sought shall be routed back to the LEAs for providing the requisite legal provision under which notice for information has been issued.
• Requests made via social media channels like WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal/etc.

For UPI Transactions	For Debit Card/Credit card Transactions	For Wallet History
Victim's Phone No Date of Transaction PhonePe Transaction ID/UTR No Amount Notice under the applicable provision of law for seeking information.	Victim's Phone No Full Card Number Date of Transaction Amount Notice under the applicable provision of law	Mobile Number Duration ( Date-From & Till) Block account - Yes or No Notice under the applicable provision of law

PhonePe can provide the transaction history of a PhonePe customer account to the LEAs, in addition to the below-mentioned information.
1. PhonePe shall provide the following information with respect to:

Customer Account	Merchant Account
Masked Bank account linked by the Customer with PhonePe Latitude and Longitude of the sender IP address of the sender PhonePe registration date	Merchant's Self-declared name Merchant Address as available in the records of PhonePe Merchant's mobile number

2. PhonePe shall provide the following details for the transaction history of a PhonePe customer account

UPI - P2P transaction	UPI - P2M transactions
For a P2P transaction, we can share the masked bank account number of the beneficiary, as linked on PhonePe. In case the receiver is not on PhonePe, details of the beneficiary UPI ID as captured by PhonePe will be shared Transaction history of a PhonePe account	In case of a transaction happening on a merchant platform (Offline, Online, QR) PhonePe shall share the details of merchant settlement UTR. With the settlement UTR and bank account number, PSP bank shall provide the full account details of the merchant's beneficiary account.

3. PhonePe can share the following details for the transactions which have taken place on external VPA

	For P2P Transactions	For P2M Transactions	For P2P or P2M Transactions on an external receiver
Account Information	Name: Phone Number VPA Account creation date	Self-declared name Phone Number VPA Account creation date	VPA
Transaction Information	Sender details Sender payment instrument masked Amount Date time Receiver VPA Receiver payment instrument masked	Sender details Sender payment instrument masked Amount Date time Receiver VPA	Sender details Sender payment instrument masked Amount Date time Receiver external VPA

4. PhonePe wallet Information:

Transaction history or transaction record of a customer’s PhonePe Wallet.

Debit/Credit transactions on PhonePe Wallet.

Information regarding the Transaction IP address, and Longitude/Latitude of the device when the transaction was initiated.

Account Restriction/Deletion Requests

If a Government Agency or LEAs wants PhonePe to block/restrict a customer’s PhonePe account, the request in this regard can only be made through a signed and stamped Notice (in the manner as stated in hereinabove) mentioning the account to be blocked/restricted along with the reason for such request.

It is only upon receipt of a Statutory Notice, PhonePe shall take the requisite action to block/restrict the account in compliance with the Notice and inform the requesting party accordingly.

RBI has issued a master direction to Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) to maintain a Nodal account.

PhonePe has 2 Nodal accounts with these banks - Yes Bank and ICICI Bank & Transactions made towards PhonePe merchants are credited to one of these nodal accounts. This Nodal Account settles the amount with the actual beneficiaries/merchants account and PhonePe’s Nodal account is not the ultimate beneficiary account.

By virtue of these nodal accounts being pooled in nature, any requests for a debit freeze on these accounts should not be placed as that impacts PhonePe’s ability to issue refunds and settlements to merchants.

For obtaining information on the ultimate beneficiary of a disputed transaction. govt/law enforcement agencies shall follow the process outlined above.

In case, the web portal is not operational or the weblink is inaccessible, the LEAs can reach out to the PhonePe Nodal Officer telephonically at +91 88848 86503.

DISCLAIMER: This Law Enforcement Response Team (LERT) Policy is to provide an automated system and facility to all LEAs so that the information/data pertaining to transactions sought under the law can be provided within a reasonable timeline. PhonePe will make all its endeavors to provide true & correct information as available in its official records, at the time when the information is sought.

1. What is UPI?
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an RBI-regulated entity. UPI is built over the IMPS infrastructure and allows you to instantly transfer money between any two parties bank accounts.

2. What is a UPI-PIN?
UPI-PIN (UPI Personal Identification Number) is a 4–6-digit passcode you create/set during your first-time registration with a UPI App. You must enter this UPI-PIN to authorize all bank transactions. If you have already set up a UPI-PIN with other UPI Apps, you can use the same on PhonePe. Note: Please do not share your UPI-PIN with anyone. PhonePe does not store or read your UPI-PIN details and your bank's customer support will never ask for it.

3. Can I email PhonePe regarding the legal process?
No, the official way to request information from PhonePe is by submitting the request on https://cybercell.phonepe.com/.

4. What is a nodal account?
Nodal accounts or nodal bank accounts are special internal bank accounts that are mandated by the RBI for businesses that are intermediaries, connecting customers to sellers.

5. How can I contact the PhonePe Cybercell team?
Web portal: https://cybercell.phonepe.com/ and Phone number: 8884886503.

6. What is the turnaround time of response for the complaints raised via the web portal?
24 hours

7. Will PhonePe entertain my complaint sent via Gmail attaching a notice issued under an appropriate provision of law seeking information?
No, The request needs to be submitted using your official email address only.

8. Does PhonePe have a separate team who handles emails received from law enforcement agencies or government agencies?
Yes, PhonePe does have a separate team who handles emails/tickets received from law enforcement agencies.

9. Which UPI handles belong to PhonePe?
@ybl, @ibl, and @axl UPI handles belong to PhonePe UPI.

10. I am a law enforcement officer, to get information regarding PhonePe accounts what details/documents do I need to submit?
To obtain PhonePe account information, you would need a notice specifically under the appropriate provision of law seeking information on the letterhead of the concerned department duly stamped and signed by the issuing authority.

11. Can PhonePe help in blocking the fraudster account and refund the transaction amount back to the source?
Yes, we will surely help you in blocking the fraudster's account upon receipt of the appropriate notice/direction issued under the law by the appropriate authority/court. But for recovery of the disputed amount the below guidelines would apply.

1. In case it is a UPI(P2P) transaction we can provide you with the beneficiary details.
2. In case it is a UPI(P2M) transaction and fulfillment is not done, we can block the amount and can provide you with the beneficiary merchant details.

Please Note: If the fulfillment is done in case of a P2M transaction and settlement is also done we cannot hold the amount and can just share the beneficiary merchant details for further investigation.
PhonePe acts as a TPAP (Third-party App provider) in cases related to UPI transactions.

12. Do you save the device id, Geolocation, and IP address of a transaction?
Yes, we do save the device id at the time of App sign-up and whenever the account holder changes his device. The geolocation and IP address of the Sender are on a transaction basis.

13. How to raise a complaint at PhonePe Cybercell webform?
To raise a complaint at Cybercell web form. Please find below details:

1. Please click on https://cybercell.phonepe.com/ and enter your official email address and click on next.
2. You will receive an OTP, enter that OTP and press submit.
3. Select instrument type and respective details.
4. Attach a notice under the appropriate provision of law for seeking information and click Submit. You will get a ticket number.

14. What details are require to raise a complaint at PhonePe Cybercell Webform?
To raise a complaint at Cybercell web form, we require PhonePe transaction details i.e. (Transaction Id, UTR, Amount, and Date of transaction), in case of card transaction we required a complete card number along with a notice issued under the appropriate provision of law seeking information.

15. Why is a notice issued under the appropriate provision of law seeking information mandatory for seeking PhonePe customer account details?
As per the Code of Criminal Procedure if any officer-in-charge of a Police station considers that the production of any document or any transaction details is required for investigation, inquiry, trial, or other proceedings under this code by or before such Court or officer.

16. Shall PhonePe provide an affidavit under Section 65B, Evidence Act?
Yes, the same shall be provided as and when asked by the Investigating Officer.