UPI error K1: Suspected fraud, decline / transactions declined based on risk score by remitter
Raised by: Payer's bank. Source: NPCI, UPI Error and Response Codes v2.9.
What it means
Your own bank's fraud system scored the payment as risky and declined it. NPCI's older code 59 carries the same meaning.
No.
Business: the systems worked and declined the payment.
What you should do
If the payment is genuine, call your bank. They may just need to confirm it's you. If someone is pushing you to pay urgently (a 'KYC expiring' call, a refund that needs a payment first), stop. That may be exactly what the bank's system caught.
If you run a payments business
Don't retry. A rise in K1 or 59 points to fraud or mule activity touching your flows.
Related codes
Also see: ZI in the full list.
If it still isn't sorted
- Raise a complaint inside your UPI app. Every UPI app has a help or dispute option on the transaction, and it goes into NPCI's online dispute system. Keep the UPI transaction ID or RRN handy.
- If the app doesn't resolve it, contact your bank's grievance desk with the same reference.
- If your bank hasn't replied within 30 days, or you're not happy with the reply, complain to the RBI Ombudsman at cms.rbi.org.in. It's free.
Technical or business decline?
NPCI splits declines into two kinds. A technical decline means a system didn't respond or failed: a bank offline, a timeout, a switch error. A business decline means the systems worked and said no, for a reason about the account or the payment: wrong PIN, not enough money, a limit, a risk check. Retrying helps with some technical declines and almost never with business ones.