Brazil’s Pix adds police reports and screenshots to fraud disputes, but gambling losses stay outside the refund system

Brazil’s Central Bank has changed the dispute flow for Pix transactions: users can now attach documents such as police reports and screenshots directly in the banking app when flagging a suspected fraud. For high-risk PSPs, the important part is just as clear: transfers made by mistake, and losses from betting, lotteries, and games of chance, are outside the refund mechanism.

1. The Banco Central do Brasil published the new Pix dispute rules on Thursday, 4/9. The main operational change is that users can now upload supporting documents inside the bank app when contesting a suspicious transaction, instead of treating evidence as an off-platform exercise.
2. The update applies to the MED (Mecanismo Especial de Devolução), the Central Bank’s special refund mechanism for fraud and scam cases. Banks have until 1 March 2027 to implement the changes. The regulator also said the MED instructions will be rewritten in simpler language so customers can understand the process more easily.
3. The scope matters for merchants and PSPs in high-risk verticals. The Central Bank said transfers made by mistake, and losses from bets, lotteries, and games of chance, are outside the MED and cannot be challenged through this channel. It also said disagreement with a commercial transaction, buyer’s remorse, and mistaken transfers are not eligible.
4. The new rules also ban advertisements, commercial offers, and hyperlinks from payment receipts. According to the Central Bank, this is meant to reduce the risk of receipts being used as part of fraud attempts. The regulator also required banks to notify payers when saved contact details are changed, and said that in Pix automático the “object of payment” field must appear clearly next to the recipient’s name to reduce transaction errors.
5. The core MED deadlines remain in place. A user has up to 80 days from the transaction date to file a dispute. Banks then have 11 days to review the claim, and the same 11-day period applies to returning funds, provided there is a balance in the receiving account. On Tuesday, 1/9, a longer deadline also came into force for users who suspect fraudulent chargebacks: the previous limit was 30 days to question amounts returned at the request of a third party.

The dispute process starts in the bank app under the Pix page, via the “Contestar Pix” button. The customer then selects the relevant transaction, states the reason — options include scam, fraud, and Pix made under threat or without the account holder’s authorization — and may attach a police report or screenshots, but does not have to. The bank then issues a protocol.