Wrong PIX Transfer or PIX Fraud: How to Recover Your Money

This page is a translation of the original Portuguese text, provided for convenience. It deals with Brazilian law. If there is any discrepancy, the Portuguese version prevails. Read the original in Portuguese

If you sent a PIX (Brazil’s instant payment system) to the wrong key or fell for a PIX scam, specific Central Bank mechanisms may help you recover the money. Acting fast in the first few hours is decisive for improving your chances of getting it back.

Wrong PIX Transfers and Fraudulent PIX Transfers: Different Situations, Different Solutions

First, it’s important to distinguish between two situations that are easy to confuse in everyday life.

A PIX sent by mistake happens when the sender enters the wrong key or account details and the money goes to someone else, usually a stranger who had no right to it. There is no scam involved, just human error.

A fraudulent PIX happens when a consumer is tricked into sending money through social engineering (a cloned WhatsApp scam, a fake auction, a fake relative in financial trouble), or when criminals break into the device and make transfers without the account holder’s knowledge.

The two situations have different dispute mechanisms and call for different actions from the victim. Understanding which scenario fits your case is the first step toward recovering your money.

The Central Bank’s Special Refund Mechanism

The Central Bank of Brazil created the Special Refund Mechanism (Mecanismo Especial de Devolução, or MED) through BCB Resolution No. 6/2020, later updated, specifically to handle PIX refunds in cases of fraud or error. For more information, see our firm’s article on credit card fraud: what to do and who is liable.

The MED works as follows:

Step 1: The victim contacts the bank or financial institution where they hold their account and reports the fraud or error. The deadline to trigger the MED in cases of fraud is up to 80 calendar days after the transaction. For mistaken transfers, you should act as soon as possible, because success depends on the funds still being available in the recipient’s account.

Step 2: The sender’s bank reviews the request and, if it finds the request well founded, activates the mechanism with the recipient’s bank through the Central Bank’s system.

Step 3: The recipient’s bank blocks the funds available in the account and notifies the account holder. If the money is still in the account, it is frozen as a precaution while the case is investigated.

The Central Bank’s MED blocks the funds in the recipient’s account: the faster you act, the greater the chance the money is still there.

Step 4: The Central Bank reviews the case within 7 calendar days (or 96 hours in urgent cases) and decides whether the funds should be returned. If it decides in favor of a refund, the money is transferred back to the victim.

How to Trigger the Refund Mechanism in Practice

Only the bank where the victim holds an account can trigger the MED, so the first step is always to call or open the financial institution’s app and report what happened.

During that contact, provide:

• The exact date and time of the transaction;
• The amount transferred;
• The recipient’s PIX key or account details;
• A brief description of the situation (error or fraud);
• The transaction receipt, if available in the app.

You should also file a police report, especially in fraud cases. Although it is not technically required to trigger the MED, a police report strengthens the victim’s account and may be necessary if the dispute ends up in court.

In parallel, you can file a complaint directly with the Central Bank through its website, bcb.gov.br, which puts pressure on the financial institutions involved to speed up their investigation.

When the MED Doesn’t Solve the Problem: Legal Options

The MED does not guarantee full recovery of the money in every case. In some situations, the fraudster has already withdrawn the money or moved it to another account before the block, which makes recovery through the MED unworkable.

In those cases, the alternatives are:

Civil action against the bank to recover an undue payment (ação de repetição de indébito): if the fraud was made possible by a security failure at the institution (such as a vulnerability in the app or the lack of multifactor authentication), the consumer can hold the bank liable under Article 14 of the CDC (Brazil’s Consumer Protection Code). Case law from the STJ (Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice) supports this position when the security failure contributed to the scam.

Civil action against the recipient: even if the recipient is the scammer, you can bring a collection action or an unjust enrichment claim. The challenge is identifying the holder of the receiving account, which can be done by asking the court to order the lifting of bank secrecy. For more information, see our firm’s article on wrong CNIS: how to fix employment records at INSS in 2026.

The situation resembles credit card fraud in many respects, and the legal grounds are detailed in our content on non-material (moral) damages and consumer compensation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does the Central Bank take to decide on a refund through the MED?

The standard deadline is 7 calendar days from the date the mechanism is triggered. In cases classified as urgent, the deadline may be shortened to 96 hours. The sender’s bank must keep the customer informed about the progress of the process. If there is no response within the legal deadline, the consumer can contact the Central Bank directly through its customer service channel or file a formal complaint.

If I sent a PIX by mistake, does the recipient have to give the money back?

Yes. Anyone who receives money by mistake has a legal obligation to return it, under the rules on unjust enrichment in the Brazilian Civil Code (Article 876 et seq.). If the person refuses to return it voluntarily, the victim can file a collection action in court. The holder of the receiving account can be identified through the bank itself, which is required to cooperate with the investigation under a court order.

I was the victim of the cloned WhatsApp scam and sent a PIX to the scammer. What should I do?

Contact your bank immediately to trigger the MED, file a police report, and keep screenshots of the WhatsApp conversation as evidence. At the same time, notify the owner of the cloned number (often someone you know) so that they can report the clone to WhatsApp. If the bank blames the victim for the scam without solid technical justification, you can challenge that in court, arguing that the fraud was sophisticated and that the victim clearly acted in good faith.

Partner Cassius Marques ADVOCACIA

As informações deste artigo são de caráter informativo e não substituem consulta jurídica individualizada. Cada caso possui particularidades que exigem análise específica.