You can make purchases and send money to your family and friends you trust with Google Pay. Sometimes, bad actors might try to use Google Pay to steal money from you. To help protect you from scams, follow these guidelines.
1. Never use money transfers to make purchases or sales
Important: Do not make purchases using money transfers. You could lose your money without ever getting what you paid for.
Scammers often post fake online advertisements or start deceptive online conversations about:
- Something for sale, like tickets to concert and sporting events, electronics, a vehicle, or a pet
- Personal relationships, like a person looking for romance
- A service, like tech support
- Financial help, like debt relief or a loan
- Job, real estate, or money-making opportunities
- Something for rent, like an apartment.
- Tip: You can use Google Pay for rent, but you should never make payments before you do things like inspect the property, sign paperwork, and receive keys.
If you reach out to express interest, the scammer may request that you transfer money first or even show you a fake shipping receipt that the item is on its way. Then, the scammer will keep the money, and never give you what you paid for.
Do not attempt sales using money transfers
Scammers often seek out sellers and try to convince them to provide items or services, with no intention of paying.
2. Only transfer money with people you know & trust
To avoid the majority of scams, transact only with people you know well and trust.
Often, scammers try to get you to act fast, without thinking. To do this, they often use deals that are too good to be true, emotional topics, or fake businesses that sound real.
Learn about common scams
Important: This is not an exhaustive list of all scams.
Always protect your personal financial details and other sensitive info
If someone requests personal financial details or other sensitive info on Google Pay, it’s a scam. Google customer service or tech support will never ask for:
- Your passwords, passcodes, or password reset link
- PINs (personal identification numbers)
- Debit or credit card info
- Bank information, like account numbers
- Personal information like address or Social Security Number
- You to download an app to receive support or solve a problem
If you’re asked to do any of these things, it’s a scam.
3. Avoid other types of suspicious requests
Scammers may pose as customer support or use emails, text messages, phone calls, and web pages to pretend to be institutions, family members, or colleagues.
Never download apps or software for payments support
Google will never ask you to download an app or software for payments support. If you’re asked to download an app or software for payments support, it’s a scam that could be used to drain your accounts.