Money back via PIX for those who have suffered a scam? Check how to recover

The protection offered by the Central Bank to Pix users and victims of fraud, fraud and social engineering is the MED, or Special Return Mechanism. Although it was created in 2021 with the aim of increasing security in instant transactions, a recent study conducted by fintech financial protection firm Silverguard found that 9 out of 10 Brazilians do not know about the existence or operation of the mechanism.

Carlos Brandt, head of Pix management and operations at the central bank, confirmed to InfoMoney that making Pix increasingly secure is almost an obsession. However, she recognizes that MED is not yet widely known, and therefore, it is important to disseminate information and ensure that the mechanism is accessible to everyone.

What is MED and when is it activated?

The Special Return Mechanism is a set of operational rules and procedures that financial institutions participating in BEX must follow to return funds in cases of fraud. MED is activated at the customer’s request to the bank, and can be used in cases of fraud, fraud, social engineering or even in cases of outstanding credit due to operational failure.

How to use MED to recover your money from PIX scam?

The deadline for registering a return request with the organization is 80 days from the date of making the return. Initially, the customer needs to register a complaint with his financial institution, which has a 10-minute window to activate MED. The organization then requests the documents and has up to 7 days to evaluate the client’s request. Once fraud is confirmed, the amount will be returned to the customer in whole or in part within 96 hours.

Does MED work to get your money back?

According to a Silverguard study, of the 1.7 million requests for suspected fraud to MED in 2022, only 6% of the value of the requests were returned. This is due, in most cases, to the speed with which criminals transfer funds to other accounts, making tracking difficult.

Faced with this scenario, the central bank is updating MED to allow more effective tracking of suspicious accounts. Furthermore, financial institutions invest in security systems and awareness campaigns to inform users of actions in suspected fraud cases.