I feel sorry for the bank employees, having to make calls at 5 a.m. because of a night owl like me, making investment decisions at that hour. They called as a precaution, of course. And here’s the whole story:
I liked how banks make sure their customers aren’t getting scammed by blocking suspicious transactions.
After each of my transactions was blocked on UPI, I got calls from my bank to confirm that the payment wasn’t going into any scammer’s pocket. In a very polite tone, they asked me to make sure I knew the person I was sending money to
And since I didn’t actually know the person, they asked for the reason behind the payment. And I went,
“um, uncle it’s actually peer to peer network so I don’t personally know the next person. But I’m buying crypto and they’ve already sold it to me. So I confirm it’s not a scam”.
The uncle, probably in his mid-40s, had no idea what I was talking about, but he simply wished me a good day. So sweet of him—I wished him the same, thanked him, and waited for the 5-minute block to be over so I could finally make the payment.
Alright, so let’s start from the beginning. And for those who don’t have an idea what I’m talking about, here we go:
So there are many ways of making payment on any cryptocurrency exchange,
like coinbase, gemini, binance, coinDCX.
- Buying directly from a merchant
- Crypto debit card
- Peer to peer cryto network (p2p network)
To understand the p2p cryto better, let’s know what’s peer to peer network first,
If you’re into blockchain or web3, or just a tech enthusiast, you must have come across the term, peer or decentralised network meaning there’s no central server or authority controlling the network.
Now when you buy any cryptocurrency you can either use this debit card or you’ll have to buy it from someone who already holds those cryptos, and instead of going through any broker or middle person, you can directly talk with the person who’s ready to sell their cryptos. You pay them directly, without any platform, government, agent, or broker involved. That’s why it’s called a peer-to-peer (P2P) network.
Back to my story: on the crypto exchange platform that I use, we get 20 minutes to chat with the other party and seal the deal.
So, I started the chat. The seller asked for my Aadhar card for verification and questioned why I was buying crypto and the source of my funds to make sure my money was legit. That’s when I realized just how cautious you need to be, because sometimes the other party’s money might be illegal. The guy was understandably concerned. I explained that I’m a student looking to invest, and he was fine with that. He sent me his UPI ID and asked me to pay. Now, here’s where you need to be extra cautious—you shouldn’t just pay to any ID they give. You should only make payments to the legitimate UPI ID provided on the exchange platform. But I tried paying to the ID he gave me in chat.
And while I was trying to pay, my bank blocked the transaction because it was going to an unknown UPI ID. I got a call each time I tried to pay, as they were verifying that I wasn’t being scammed. They confirmed that I was the one making the transaction and asked me to wait 5–10 minutes for payment clearance. Meanwhile, I was staring at the timer ticking down with only 3 minutes left.
Somehow, I found another UPI ID for the seller on the platform and paid there. This time, the payment went through. But...
The order got canceled, and now I was really worried. I’d already paid, but there was no currency in my crypto wallet since the connection with the other party had ended after the timer. I almost panicked (which is rare for me—I’m usually pretty calm). Then I saw an option to reinitiate the chat with the other party. Clicking on it gave us an extra 10 minutes to talk. I sent over my payment proof, they approved it, and, finally, I had those 0.xyz (too costly to buy in full, so yeah) cryptocurrency in my wallet. 😌
