WhatsApp impersonator tricked me into buying gift cards

A reddit report about a phishing scam that cost someone Amount not specified. Learn how to avoid falling victim.

Source: reddit | Scam Type: Phishing | Amount Lost: Amount not specified | Date: March 24, 2026
Hey everyone, wanted to share what happened to me and see if anyone has been in a similar situation. Yesterday night someone impersonated my co-founder on WhatsApp using a US number. They said they were in a conference call and urgently needed me to buy two Apple App Store gift cards worth Rs 5000 each for their clients, and would reimburse me. I bought one worth Rs 4850 on Paytm. Before sharing the code, I got suspicious and called the other co-founder, who confirmed it was a fake account. So the code was never shared and is still with me unredeemed. I immediately contacted Paytm Care, but they said they cannot refund a successful transaction. I then filed a complaint on cybercrime.gov.in, which is now showing "Under Process" status. I also emailed ICICI bank to raise a UPI dispute. My question is: has anyone successfully gotten a refund from Paytm in a similar fraud case, especially when the gift card code was never redeemed? Any advice on what else I can do to recover the Rs 4850?

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3

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