If you find charges that you don’t recognize, you should report it to Google.
Check if charges are from Google Play
If you find a charge in your Google Play order history, it’s from Google Play.
Alternatively, if you find charges on your payment method that you don’t recognize, check how the charges appear on the billing statement.
All Google Play purchases will appear on your statement under one of these names:
- "GOOGLE*App developer name" (for Android apps)
- "GOOGLE*App name" (for Android apps)
- "GOOGLE*Content type" (i.e. "GOOGLE*Books")
If the charge begins with one of these names, report it to Google.
Important: If you suspect a family member or friend made the purchase, you may be eligible for a refund. If you believe the charge was fraudulent, follow this process instead:
Google can only take action on credit, debit, or PayPal transactions within 120 days from the transaction date.
- If the transaction occurred within the past 120 days, fill out this form.
- Submit a separate claim for each payment method used.
- After you complete the form, you can expect an email update typically within 7 business days.
- If the transaction occurred more than 120 days ago, contact the fraud department for your credit or debit card company or PayPal immediately.
Google can only take action on mobile carrier billing transactions within 60 days from the transaction date.
If the transaction occurred within the past 60 days, to continue troubleshooting, you’ll need a “correlation ID” or “request ID” from your carrier.
- To get the required ID, contact your mobile phone carrier.
- For most carriers, you'll need a “correlation ID.”
- The “correlation ID” is a combination of numbers that starts with the letter “g.”
- Example: g1234567890.
- Based on your carrier, the format and amount of numbers may look different.
- The “correlation ID” is a combination of numbers that starts with the letter “g.”
- For some carriers, you'll need a “request ID.”
- “Request IDs” start with an uppercase 'G' followed by an alphanumeric string of varying length.
- Example: G2XY1ZabcQde1v2cH6BpuST.
- “Request IDs” start with an uppercase 'G' followed by an alphanumeric string of varying length.
- For most carriers, you'll need a “correlation ID.”
- Once you have your ID:
- If you have a “correlation ID”:
- Fill out this form.
- Submit a separate claim for each payment method used.
- After you complete the form, you can expect an email update typically within 7 business days.
- If you have a “request ID”:
- Contact your mobile carrier billing’s fraud department immediately.
- If you have a “correlation ID”:
If the transaction occurred more than 60 days ago, contact your mobile carrier billing’s fraud department immediately.
If you have access to your Google Account, contact Google support for assistance.
If you don’t have access to your Google Account, contact your payment method’s fraud department immediately.
Tip: To help prevent unauthorized charges, you can set up purchase verification for Google Play.
If the charge doesn’t begin with “Google”
If the charge in question isn't in one of the formats above, it didn't come from Google Play. Contact your payment method’s fraud department immediately.
Check the status of your claim
If you’ve filed a claim for an unauthorized charge, you can check the status of your claim.
- Go to the "Report unauthorized purchases” form.
- Select Check your claim status.
Cancel a claim of unauthorized charges
If you submitted a claim while signed in to your Google Account and find the charges came from a recognized source:
- Go to the claim status page.
- Enter the email address that you used to submit the claim and the claim ID sent to your email.
- Select Search.
- Select the claim in question.
- Select Cancel Claim.