The PayID scam aimed at car sellers and how to spot it

Yes, it’s a scam. An email “from PayID” saying you must pay to upgrade your account or unlock a buyer’s payment is fake, and there’s no payment waiting to be unlocked. PayID never contacts you directly, and it never asks you to send money to receive money.

Australian Payments Plus, the organisation behind PayID, says in its PayID FAQs that any message from PayID asking you to send or receive money, or to “upgrade” to a business account, is a scam. Car sellers make good targets because the amounts are large and most people want the sale finished. Here is how the script usually runs, how to check a real payment, and what to do in the first hour if you’ve already paid.

How does the PayID “upgrade” scam usually go?

The wording changes, but official warnings and sellers’ own reports point to a common pattern. Here it is in five stages: what the “buyer” does at each one, and what’s actually going on.

Sellers on one Australian forum have reported a variation. The email says the payment is below a “minimum”, and you must send money to bring it up to the threshold before it’s released. Scamwatch also warns about “buyers” who say they’ve already paid for your item, then send a link to a look-alike site that asks for your bank details. The wording differs but the ending is the same: you send money, or you hand over your banking details.

Motoring club advice for private sellers adds two early signs. The first is a buyer who brings up PayID early or dictates the payment method early on. The second is an email address that doesn’t match the name they’ve given you.

Does PayID send emails? What a real PayID payment looks like

No. Australian Payments Plus says PayIDs are managed by your own bank, that PayID will never contact you directly, and that emails or texts claiming to be from PayID are a scam. A PayID is just an identifier, usually your mobile number, email address or ABN, that you register through your own bank’s app or internet banking and link to your account. When a buyer pays to it, the money moves between the two banks and appears in your account. Nothing arrives from “PayID” at all.

Two details trip people up. First, the name check runs the other way from what the scam implies. Before the buyer confirms a PayID payment, their banking app shows them the name registered to your PayID. You don’t need to do anything to “verify” yourself.

Second, timing. Australian Payments Plus says PayID payments go through Osko and typically arrive in under a minute, but some payments are held for security checks. A genuine hold is your bank’s or the buyer’s bank’s process. There’s no fee you can pay to release it, and no one from PayID will contact you about it.

What if a buyer brings several PayIDs or accounts into it?

Be wary. Scamwatch lists being asked to pay in unusual ways, including to several different PayIDs or accounts, as a warning sign in buying and selling scams. For a seller, that warning applies whenever you’re asked to send money somewhere: a “refund”, a fee or a “tax”, to a PayID or account in another name, or split across several. Completing a sale never requires you to send the buyer money, so the answer is no however the request is split.

A different situation, and not one on Scamwatch’s list, is a buyer who wants to pay you in parts. Banks set daily payment limits, so a genuine buyer may need to pay over two days or ask their own bank about raising the limit. That’s workable if every part lands in your account before anything changes hands. The risk is a part payment followed by an email claiming the rest is “on hold”. Add up only what you can see in your own account, and keep the car, keys and papers until the total matches the agreed price.

How do I check the account name matches?

Check the name whenever money moves, in either direction. Scamwatch’s advice is to make sure the account holder’s name matches the person you think you’re dealing with.

• If you’re ever about to pay someone. A seller shouldn’t need to, but if you do, a PayID shows the registered name before you confirm. If it shows a different person, a business you don’t recognise or anything that sounds official, stop.
• For a BSB and account number. Confirmation of Payee, which Australian banks have been rolling out since July 2025, checks the name you type against the account. It usually returns a match, close match or no match, and it won’t stop you paying, so the decision is yours. A no match is a reason to stop and check, using contact details you already trust rather than the ones in the email.
• For money coming in. Look at the payment in your own transaction list. The payer should be the buyer, or someone the buyer named before paying, and the name should line up with the bill of sale.

An email “from PayID” fails the check before you get this far, because PayID never contacts you directly. You don’t need to inspect the sender’s address or the logo to know it’s fake.

I’ve already paid. What do I do now?

Act fast. The sooner your bank knows, the better the chance of stopping the money, although recovery isn’t certain. Work through these steps in order. They’re based on Moneysmart’s advice for people who’ve been scammed, with the car-sale details added:

1. Call your bank now. Use the number on your card or in your banking app, say it’s a scam payment, and ask them to stop or recall it. If you logged in to your bank through a link the buyer sent, tell them that too.
2. Stop all contact and keep the car. Don’t send any more money, whatever the next message says, and don’t release the car, keys or papers.
3. Save the evidence. Screenshot the ad, the chat, the buyer’s profile, the fake email and your payment receipt.
4. Call IDCARE on 1800 595 160. It’s the national identity and cyber support service, and its help is free. Call it if you’ve shared your licence, bank details or passwords.
5. Report it. Report the scam to Scamwatch and the buyer’s profile to the site where you listed the car. Australian Payments Plus also says to report it to police, which you can do online through ReportCyber at cyber.gov.au.
6. Watch for the follow-up. Moneysmart warns that people who’ve been scammed may be targeted in a follow-up scam. Be suspicious of anyone who contacts you offering to recover your money for a fee.

Our guide to what to do if you’re scammed selling your car goes through the next steps in more detail.

What’s a safer way to take payment for a car?

Decide how you’ll be paid before you list the car, then don’t let a buyer change it. PayID can be part of a safe sale. The fault is the fake email, not the payment system. These rules protect you.

• Money in, then keys out. The full price should be in your account before the car, keys or signed transfer papers leave you. Consumer Affairs Victoria tells sellers not to sign anything that transfers ownership until they’ve been paid.
• Never send money to a buyer. Not for an upgrade, a fee, a courier or an overpayment. The “I sent too much” version has its own guide: the overpayment scam.
• Verify cheques yourself. If a buyer offers a bank cheque, call the issuing bank on a number you look up, not one printed on the cheque. Our guide on whether a bank cheque is safe compares the payment methods in more detail.
• Meet the buyer. Most genuine buyers want to see the car. Someone who won’t, but insists on paying by PayID straight away, fits the pattern above.

Before the car leaves your driveway, run through this five-point check:

• I logged in to my own banking app the usual way, not through a link.
• The full agreed amount shows in my account, not as pending.
• I haven’t sent the buyer, or anyone they named, any money.
• No one has asked me to do anything to release the payment.
• The name on the payment is the buyer’s, or someone they named before paying.

If you’re weighing cash against a transfer, our guide on whether it’s safe to sell your car for cash covers both.

Would selling to a licensed dealer avoid this?

Every version of this scam relies on a stranger you can’t check and money you can’t see. If that’s the part of a private sale you’d rather skip, selling to a licensed dealer changes both. You can look up exactly who you’re dealing with, and our guide on how to check a car buyer is licensed shows how, using us as the example.

Sell Your Car Australia is run by Autohaus Australia Pty Ltd, NSW licensed motor dealer MD 077404, ABN 54 618 813 737. We make a genuine offer by phone, and a deposit is often paid the same day. The inspection happens after you accept, at a time and place that suits you. The balance is paid by bank transfer into your account, where you can check it yourself, and the car is collected only after you confirm the funds have cleared. No fees come out of the offer, and if there’s finance owing, we deal with your lender directly. As Spiros put it: “I was paid before Autohaus took possession of my car, which from my experience normally doesn’t happen.”

We buy cars, utes, SUVs and 4WDs 2021 or newer with 100,000 km or less. If yours is older or has more kilometres, send it through anyway and we’ll tell you straight away if we can help. You can read how it works or call us on 1800 73 55 73.