Financial Fraud Risk Indicator: Why Your UPI Payment Was Blocked

If your payment was held or your number flagged, here is what FRI is and what to do. Your mobile number has likely been given a Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) by the Department of Telecommunications. FRI is a risk score the DoT Digital Intelligence Unit shares with banks and UPI apps so they can warn you, delay a payment, or decline it. If the flag is wrong, report it on Sanchar Saathi or Chakshu and check the numbers in your name on TAFCOP. The steps are below.

If you are short on time, jump to What to do if your number is wrongly flagged.

The FRI does not block your bank account. It scores a mobile number, not a person. A payment can be slowed or stopped because the receiver's number, or sometimes your own number, sits on a high-risk list. This is meant to stop fraud before money leaves your account.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) announced FRI on 21 May 2025 and rolled it out from 22 May 2025. It works through the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), which over 1000 banks, UPI apps and financial institutions have joined to share fraud signals.

FRI is a risk score for a mobile number. The DoT explains it plainly. As quoted on PIB, “It is a risk-based metric that classifies a mobile number to have been associated with Medium, High, or Very High risk of financial fraud.”

The score is built from real complaints and intelligence. The classification is “an outcome of inputs obtained from various stakeholders including reporting on Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre I4C's National Cybercrime Reporting Portal NCRP, DoT's Chakshu platform, and Intelligence shared by banks and financial institutions.”

There are three tiers. The DoT does not publish a fixed action for each tier, so each bank or app decides its own response. Do not assume a number is fraudulent only because it is flagged.

The table below is illustrative, not an official DoT mapping. The DoT names a flat set of bank actions, not a fixed action per tier.

The DoT states that banks “can use FRI in real time to take preventive measures such as declining suspicious transactions, issuing alerts or warnings to customers, and delaying transactions flagged as high risk.” Each entity sets its own thresholds. There is no single national rule on the exact amount or delay.

A payment is held when FRI marks a number in the transaction as risky. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made this common. On 30 June 2025 the RBI advised all Scheduled Commercial Banks, Small Finance Banks, Payments Banks and Co-operative Banks to integrate FRI into their systems.

Speed is the point. The DoT notes that the life of a fraud number is often only a few days, while full verification can take longer. FRI gives banks an early warning while checks continue. Institutions such as PhonePe, Punjab National Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Paytm and India Post Payments Bank were named by the DoT as active users.

Three DoT tools are often confused. They are separate.

• FRI is a risk score (Medium, High, Very High) on a number that is still active. It guides banks and UPI apps.
• MNRL is the Mobile Number Revocation List. It lists numbers already disconnected, for reasons like a cybercrime link, failed re-verification, or exceeding the limit on connections.
• Chakshu is the public reporting facility on Sanchar Saathi. You use it to report a suspected fraud call or message. Your reports feed signals that can affect a number's FRI.

A genuine number can be flagged by mistake, for example after spam reports or a recycled SIM. Work through these steps.

1. Confirm it is your number that is flagged. Sometimes the blocked payment is about the receiver's number, not yours. Ask your bank or UPI app which number triggered the alert.
2. Report the wrong flag on Chakshu. Go to the Sanchar Saathi portal at https://sancharsaathi.gov.in and use the Chakshu facility to report suspected fraud or to raise that your number is misused or wrongly marked.
3. Check the connections in your name on TAFCOP. On Sanchar Saathi, open TAFCOP to see every mobile number issued on your ID. Flag any number you do not recognise. See our guide on how to find unknown mobile numbers in your name on TAFCOP.
4. Tell your bank in writing. Lodge a written complaint with your bank that a genuine transaction was wrongly held. Ask for the reason and a reference number. Keep the acknowledgement.
5. Secure a lost or recycled SIM. If your old number was reassigned or your SIM was lost, block it at once. See how to block a lost or stolen SIM card in India.
6. Keep evidence. Save the failed payment screen, the date, the amount and the number involved. You will need these if you escalate.

To push a government body for records on why a number was flagged or how a complaint was handled, you can file an RTI. The The RTI Playbook shows how to frame and escalate such requests.

• Ask your bank or UPI app which number caused the block.
• Open https://sancharsaathi.gov.in and run a TAFCOP check on numbers in your name.
• Report any wrong flag or unknown number through Chakshu.
• Send your bank a short written complaint and note the reference number.

Your bank or UPI app decides. The DoT only shares the FRI score. The RBI advised banks on 30 June 2025 to integrate FRI, but each bank sets its own action for each risk level. So the same flag can cause a warning at one app and a declined payment at another.

No. FRI scores a number, not a person, and a genuine number can be flagged by mistake. Causes include spam reports, a recycled SIM, or a wrong complaint. If you believe the flag is wrong, report it on Chakshu, check your numbers on TAFCOP, and complain to your bank in writing.

Use the Chakshu facility on the Sanchar Saathi portal at https://sancharsaathi.gov.in to report suspected fraud or misuse. Also run a TAFCOP check there to see all numbers issued on your ID and flag any you do not recognise. Then send a written complaint to your bank asking why a genuine payment was held.

The DoT announced FRI on 21 May 2025 and began sharing it from 22 May 2025. It runs on the Digital Intelligence Platform. The RBI followed on 30 June 2025 by advising all scheduled commercial, small finance, payments and co-operative banks to integrate FRI into their systems.

• Press Information Bureau, “DoT Introduces Financial Fraud Risk Indicator FRI to strengthen Cyber Fraud Prevention”, 21 May 2025: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2130249
• Press Information Bureau, “RBI Advises Banks to Integrate DoT's Financial Fraud Risk Indicator FRI”, 2 July 2025: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2141616
• Sanchar Saathi portal (Chakshu and TAFCOP), Department of Telecommunications: https://sancharsaathi.gov.in

• Find unknown mobile numbers in your name on TAFCOP
• Block a lost or stolen SIM card in India

Reviewed by the RTI Wiki editorial team. Public guidance by Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak.