{"id":147,"date":"2026-05-29T09:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T09:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tutorac.com\/help-center\/2026\/05\/29\/avoid-scams-always-communicate-and-pay-through-tutorac\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T09:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T09:11:11","slug":"avoid-scams-always-communicate-and-pay-through-tutorac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tutorac.com\/help-center\/2026\/05\/29\/avoid-scams-always-communicate-and-pay-through-tutorac\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoid scams: always communicate and pay through Tutorac"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#374151;font-style:italic;font-weight:400\">Tutorac&rsquo;s safety guarantees &mdash; escrow, refunds, dispute resolution &mdash; only work for activity that happens <em>on<\/em> the platform. The moment money or important conversations move off Tutorac, every protection is gone. This guide explains why, the most common scam patterns to watch for, and what to do if a tutor pushes you off-platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"in-this-article\">In this article<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"#why\">Why off-platform = no protection<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#patterns\">Common scam patterns<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#redflags\">Red-flag phrases<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#do\">What to do if a tutor asks you off-platform<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#savings\">There&rsquo;s nothing to save by going off-platform<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#faqs\">FAQs<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"why\">Why off-platform = no protection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tutorac Payment Protection covers payments made through Tutorac and conversations held on Tutorac Messages. If you pay via UPI, bank transfer, wallet, or any other channel directly to a tutor, Tutorac has:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>No record<\/strong> of the transaction.<\/li><li><strong>No way<\/strong> to refund the money.<\/li><li><strong>No leverage<\/strong> with the tutor &mdash; they&rsquo;ve already been paid in full.<\/li><li><strong>No basis<\/strong> for a dispute or chargeback.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Same goes for chats: a conversation on WhatsApp, Telegram, personal email, or any external app is invisible to Tutorac. If the tutor later denies promises or refuses to deliver, Tutorac can only see what happened in Tutorac Messages. Without that evidence, there&rsquo;s no case to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"631\" src=\"https:\/\/tutorac.com\/help-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/st-safety-panel.png\" alt=\"Learn Safely with Tutorac safety panel showing the scam warning at the bottom.\" class=\"wp-image-145\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"patterns\">Common scam patterns<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These are the patterns to recognise &mdash; not all are obvious malice; sometimes a well-meaning tutor just wants to skip the platform. The risk to you is the same either way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>&ldquo;Pay directly and I&rsquo;ll give you a discount&rdquo;<\/strong> &mdash; the &ldquo;saving&rdquo; vanishes the moment something goes wrong. There&rsquo;s already zero platform fee for learners.<\/li><li><strong>UPI \/ bank account \/ GPay request in the chat<\/strong> &mdash; legitimate Tutorac payments never happen this way.<\/li><li><strong>Gift cards \/ crypto \/ wire transfers<\/strong> &mdash; classic scam channels because they&rsquo;re irreversible. No legitimate tutor will ask for these.<\/li><li><strong>&ldquo;Move our chat to WhatsApp \/ Telegram&rdquo;<\/strong> &mdash; if they want a back-channel, ask why. Promises made there can&rsquo;t be enforced by Tutorac.<\/li><li><strong>Fake invoices \/ payment links<\/strong> sent over email claiming to be from Tutorac &mdash; only pay via the Tutorac batch payment tab. Tutorac doesn&rsquo;t email payment links.<\/li><li><strong>Urgency tactics<\/strong> &mdash; &ldquo;Pay now, the seat is closing&rdquo;, &ldquo;the discount expires in an hour&rdquo;. Real Tutorac contracts don&rsquo;t expire in minutes.<\/li><li><strong>Tutor asks for personal financial info<\/strong> &mdash; card numbers, OTPs, banking passwords, your Tutorac password. Never share any of these, with anyone, ever.<\/li><li><strong>Free demo extending into &ldquo;just a couple more free sessions&rdquo;<\/strong> &mdash; once the contract is set up, all paid work goes through milestones. Endless free extensions are a red flag.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"redflags\">Red-flag phrases<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If a tutor sends any of these, treat it as a clear signal something&rsquo;s off:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>&ldquo;Tutorac takes too much commission, just pay me directly.&rdquo;<\/li><li>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll give you my UPI \/ IBAN \/ wallet for the payment.&rdquo;<\/li><li>&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s continue on WhatsApp, it&rsquo;s easier.&rdquo;<\/li><li>&ldquo;Send the money first, I&rsquo;ll create the contract after.&rdquo;<\/li><li>&ldquo;Send your card details \/ OTP \/ Tutorac password so I can set it up for you.&rdquo;<\/li><li>&ldquo;Pay in cryptocurrency \/ via gift card to lock the discount.&rdquo;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"do\">What to do if a tutor asks you off-platform<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Decline politely but firmly<\/strong>, in Tutorac Messages: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to keep everything on Tutorac for safety. Please send a contract through the platform.&rdquo;<\/li><li><strong>Do not<\/strong> share any payment, banking, or password info, even &ldquo;just to test&rdquo;.<\/li><li><strong>Screenshot the chat<\/strong> if anything pressured or suspicious was said &mdash; useful evidence later.<\/li><li><strong>Report the tutor<\/strong> to Tutorac Support with the screenshot and a short description.<\/li><li>If you&rsquo;re uncomfortable continuing, <strong>find a different tutor<\/strong>. The Find Tutors page has many options for any skill.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"savings\">There&rsquo;s nothing to save by going off-platform<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A common pitch is &ldquo;going direct saves you the platform fee&rdquo;. This is misleading on Tutorac:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Learners pay zero platform fee.<\/strong> The amount on the contract is the entire amount you owe.<\/li><li><strong>The demo is already free.<\/strong> You don&rsquo;t need to negotiate around it.<\/li><li><strong>Refunds, escrow, dispute resolution<\/strong> &mdash; these are valuable and they vanish off-platform. The risk vastly outweighs any &ldquo;discount&rdquo;.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If the price is the issue, negotiate <em>on<\/em> the contract, not around the platform. Tutors can offer Tutorac-side discounts via lower milestone amounts when sending the offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"faqs\">FAQs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A tutor I trust says off-platform is fine. Why is Tutorac warning me?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tutorac isn&rsquo;t doubting the tutor &mdash; it&rsquo;s protecting <em>you<\/em>. Even genuine tutors don&rsquo;t have escrow, refund flows, or dispute systems on UPI \/ WhatsApp. If anything goes wrong (illness, schedule change, a misunderstanding), you have no fallback. Keep it on-platform and the tutor gets paid the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I already paid a tutor outside Tutorac. Can Tutorac help me get it back?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unfortunately no &mdash; Tutorac can&rsquo;t access or refund money that didn&rsquo;t go through it. Report the tutor so Tutorac can review their account, but the only path for the lost money is directly with your bank (chargeback) or local consumer-protection authorities. Don&rsquo;t pay more in the hope of recovering the original payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is it OK to add a tutor on LinkedIn or follow their YouTube?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes &mdash; following public content is fine. The line is around <strong>money and training-related promises<\/strong>: those have to be on Tutorac to be protected. Casual professional follow-up isn&rsquo;t the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">My tutor wants to email me PDFs and resources directly. Is that off-platform?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use Tutorac&rsquo;s in-batch Drive for course materials so they&rsquo;re archived against the contract. One-off emails are fine if it&rsquo;s a quick share, but anything you might need to reference in a dispute should go through the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A site claiming to be Tutorac sent me a payment link. Is it real?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Almost certainly phishing. The only place to make a Tutorac payment is from inside your batch&rsquo;s payment tab, while signed in to <code>tutorac.com<\/code> (or <code>tutorac.org<\/code> for non-India accounts). Never pay from a link in an email or SMS without first signing in directly via your browser and confirming the payment lives in your batch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related articles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"\/help-center\/2026\/05\/29\/tutorac-payment-protection-how-tutorac-keeps-you-safe\/\">Tutorac Payment Protection: how Tutorac keeps you safe<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"\/help-center\/2026\/05\/27\/how-payments-work-on-tutorac-milestones-escrow-releasing-funds\/\">How payments work on Tutorac<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#\">How to report a tutor or content issue<\/a> (coming next)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#9ca3af;font-size:13px\">Last updated: 29 May 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why off-platform payments and conversations lose all Tutorac protections, the most common scam patterns to recognise (off-platform UPI\/crypto\/gift cards, fake invoices, urgency tactics, requests for OTPs), exact red-flag phrases to watch for, what to do if a tutor pushes you off-platform, and 5 FAQs. Keep everything on Tutorac to stay protected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-learners","category-learners-safety-trust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tutorac.com\/help-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tutorac.com\/help-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tutorac.com\/help-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tutorac.com\/help-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tutorac.com\/help-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tutorac.com\/help-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tutorac.com\/help-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tutorac.com\/help-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tutorac.com\/help-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}