Paid via UPI to an Instagram Seller and Got Blocked — Legal Options Under Indian Law

My client, Priya Verma, a resident of Lucknow, came across what appeared to be a legitimate handicraft business run through an Instagram page sometime around 18 February 2025. The seller, operating under a personal account, was offering handmade home décor items at attractive prices. Priya placed an order and transferred ₹1,999 via UPI to the seller's linked account — the UPI ID traced back to a name that appeared on her payment screen as a personal account holder in Surat. The payment went through without a hitch. And then, silence.

Within hours, the seller's Instagram account had blocked Priya entirely. Messages went unread. The profile became inaccessible. She tried reaching the account from a different device and the page was still active, but she had clearly been blocked. She had her UPI transaction reference number, screenshots of the product conversation, and the payment confirmation. But she had no idea what to do next.

Priya had already tried filing a complaint on the Cyber Crime portal at cybercrime.gov.in and had contacted her bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, to flag the transaction. Neither had resulted in a satisfactory response in the weeks that followed. A friend referred her to Advocate Sudhir Rao. The approach shifted immediately. A formal complaint was structured under applicable criminal provisions, the UPI handle was traced through the payment ecosystem's grievance mechanism, and coordinated pressure was placed on both the platform and the payment intermediary. The matter moved considerably faster once the complaint was filed with the right specificity, and Priya was able to recover her amount through the bank's dispute resolution channel backed by the legal notice.

You can read about this case in detail at https://sudhirrao.com/upi-payment-instagram-seller-blocked-legal-recourse-india/