“You passed. Now pay the course fee.” How this scam works.

What the message usually says

• “Congratulations, you passed the test” or “you have been selected”.
• You must pay a training, course, certification, registration or exam fee to move ahead.
• A well-known institute is named, such as IIT, IIM or NIT, to make the course sound official.
• A deadline: “pay within 24 hours or your slot will be released”.
• Sometimes a promise of a guaranteed job or “pay after placement”.
• Payment to a personal UPI ID, a payment link, or a website that is not the institute’s own.

Why it works

The deadline is the trick. It is designed to stop you from checking. A genuine programme can wait a day while you verify it. The famous name adds trust, and the “you passed” message makes you feel you have already earned a place. Reports of this kind of fraud are real: in March 2025 Delhi Police arrested 18 people running a fake call centre that, according to the report, lured job seekers with false promises of employment and made them pay registration and training fees. In March 2026, IIT Roorkee warned students about outside organisations falsely claiming a link with it to promote internships and training.

What to check before you pay

1. Ignore the deadline. Take the time to verify, even if the message says the slot will be lost.
2. Find the programme yourself. Go to the institute’s own website by typing its address, not through a link in the message. Look for the exact course, its fee and how to apply. Official academic sites in India usually end in .ac.in, but a matching address alone does not prove a message is genuine.
3. Look for a free official version. Many courses from IITs and other institutes are free to study through NPTEL and SWAYAM. If a seller charges a large amount for the same name, compare first.
4. Ask who is selling. A recruiter or “counsellor” selling a course is not the same as an employer hiring you. Genuine employers hire first and do not charge you for training.
5. Get the refund policy and placement claims in writing. “100% placement” and “pay after placement” promises deserve proof, and nobody can honestly guarantee a job.
6. Check where the money goes. A personal UPI ID or an unknown payment link is a warning sign. Be especially careful if the account holder’s name does not match the organisation.
7. Search for complaints. Search the course provider’s name with words like “refund”, “complaint” and “review”, and read recent first-hand accounts rather than only the seller’s own testimonials.

For students, the AICTE internship portal has been described in news coverage as barring fees from students; check the current terms on the official AICTE portal rather than relying on a summary.

If you have already paid

• Contact your bank or payment provider immediately and ask them to stop or recall the payment.
• Call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in.
• Keep screenshots of the messages, the payment receipt, and the sender’s number, email and UPI ID.
• Do not pay again to “release” a refund or unlock a certificate.

Check a message you received

Paste the message into the checker and OfferVerity will point out warning signs like these, then check the sender’s email domain. You can also look up a phone number, email or UPI ID to see whether other people have reported it. These tools give guidance, not proof, and cannot confirm that any offer is genuine.