How Google GPay's new split payment feature is being used by scammers leveraging the familiar "green check mark":
A tool to share expenses with your friends, the split expense feature lets you create groups, send payment requests, and mark requests as paid.
Now, scammers are using it to target victims. Here’s how they do it:
1. You get a call from someone claiming to be your uncle, your parent’s business partner/friend etc. claiming that your parent asked them to send you some money, let’s say ₹1,000. But instead of ₹1,000, they say they have accidently sent you ₹10,000.
2. The key part - They will ask you to check your Google Pay, where they have already set up an expense group with you, created a payment request, and marked that as paid. This shows up on your app as “Split request - ₹10,000 - marked as paid”, with the familiar green check mark.
3. They will ask you to send the extra ₹9,000 back to them.
A tool to share expenses with your friends, the split expense feature lets you create groups, send payment requests, and mark requests as paid.
Now, scammers are using it to target victims. Here’s how they do it:
1. You get a call from someone claiming to be your uncle, your parent’s business partner/friend etc. claiming that your parent asked them to send you some money, let’s say ₹1,000. But instead of ₹1,000, they say they have accidently sent you ₹10,000.
2. The key part - They will ask you to check your Google Pay, where they have already set up an expense group with you, created a payment request, and marked that as paid. This shows up on your app as “Split request - ₹10,000 - marked as paid”, with the familiar green check mark.
3. They will ask you to send the extra ₹9,000 back to them.
The scammer will repeat that you should not disconnect this call, create urgency, ask you to check your GPay app, and immediately transfer the remaining ₹9,000 "back" to them.
If the receiver of such a call is not paying attention – let’s say they just woke up, they’re driving, or any number of other things that require more attention, the receiver is more likely to believe and act on the scammer’s request by mistaking that green check mark as a confirmation that a payment has indeed happened.
PSA to Google: We need more differentiation between these confirmation cards to ensure scams like this are less likely.
If the receiver of such a call is not paying attention – let’s say they just woke up, they’re driving, or any number of other things that require more attention, the receiver is more likely to believe and act on the scammer’s request by mistaking that green check mark as a confirmation that a payment has indeed happened.
PSA to Google: We need more differentiation between these confirmation cards to ensure scams like this are less likely.
Originally published on LinkedIn, April 2025