Buying and Selling Special Number Prize Bonds: The Rules, the Risks and Safer Habits

Some people like a bond with a number that means something: a birthday, a repeating digit, a neat sequence. You cannot ask for a particular number at the counter, so these bonds change hands privately, often for more than their face value. This guide sets out what the official rules say, the three real risks (winning bonds, stolen bonds and fakes), and the habits that cut those risks if you deal anyway.

What the official rules say

Start here, because the rules are stricter than most people assume. All of the following comes from the State Bank of Pakistan's FAQ on National Prize Bonds and its FAQ on withdrawn bonds.

• You cannot pick a number at the counter. Asked whether bonds are sold to customers by number of their own choice, SBP answers no.
• The open market is not recognised. Asked about the open market rate of prize bonds, SBP answers that it is "an illegal parallel market of prize bonds", outside SBP BSC's purview.
• Brokers are not authorised. SBP says brokers are not authorised to deal in the sale or purchase of prize bonds, and that prize lists held by brokers are not authenticated.
• Only three kinds of office may do business in bearer bonds. Under Rule 3(2) of the Prize Bonds Rules 1999, quoted in SBP's withdrawn bond FAQ, only SBP BSC offices, authorised commercial bank branches and National Savings Centres may carry out business in bearer prize bonds, and Rule 3(3) restricts any other office, body or institution from doing so.
• Ownership moves with the paper. A bearer bond belongs to whoever holds it, like a currency note. That is how bonds pass to family members and heirs.

We are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice. What is clear is that the only way to buy a prize bond with no risk at all is at face value from one of those three kinds of office, where you get whatever number you are given. Anything else is a private deal outside the official system, and you carry the risk.

Never buy a bond that has already won

This is the most important rule in this guide.

A bond that has won a prize is worth its prize to whoever claims it. That makes winning bonds attractive to people with cash they cannot explain: buy a winning bond for more than the prize, claim the prize, and the cash now looks like a lucky win. Profit reported on this practice in February 2017, describing people buying bonds that had already won from prize bond agents, at a premium, to explain illicit cash. In November 2020 the Financial Monitoring Unit gave National Savings red flag indicators to report suspicious transactions in savings certificates and prize bonds (ProPakistani, 18 November 2020). The large bearer bonds of Rs 7,500 to Rs 40,000 were withdrawn between 2019 and 2021 as part of Pakistan's Financial Action Task Force commitments, according to a Finance Ministry reply reported in August 2025.

So:

• If you hold a winning bond, claim it yourself. SBP's FAQ says the prize should be claimed by the bondholder. Our claim guide shows how.
• If someone offers you a winning bond, refuse, at any price.
• Check every bond against six years of draws before you buy it. Our checker or the official draw search will show whether a number has won.

Stolen bonds

Because a bearer bond belongs to whoever holds it, SBP cannot stop payment on a stolen bond and will not issue a duplicate to the person it was stolen from. That protects nobody in a private sale. A thief can sell a stolen bond as easily as a genuine owner can.

We could not find any official public list of stolen bond numbers. If a seller cannot explain where a bundle of bonds came from, or is in a hurry to sell for cash, walk away. Buying stolen property can draw you into a police case and cost you the money you paid.

Fakes and faulty bonds

Bonds are printed by the Pakistan Security Printing Corporation, and SBP sends claimed bonds there to confirm they are genuine before paying a prize. A fake will fail that check, and you will find out only after you have paid for it.

SBP's FAQ lists the security features of a genuine bond. In the paper: a large watermark, a micro printed security thread and invisible coloured fibres. In the printing: micro printed rainbow tint, a guilloche pattern, a visible fluorescent rosette, an invisible denomination print and numbering in red fluorescent ink.

Check one more thing on every bond: the number. Each bond carries its series and number twice, at the top right and the bottom left. If the two do not match, it is a "mismatched" bond. SBP says mismatched bonds were withdrawn from prize draws by a Finance Division notification of 25 June 2011. They can still be encashed for face value at SBP BSC offices, but they will never win anything.

Also ask yourself whether the bond is a current value. Rs 100, 200, 750 and 1,500 are the bearer bonds in circulation. Rs 7,500, 15,000, 25,000 and 40,000 bearer bonds were withdrawn and could not be encashed after 31 December 2024; see our guide to withdrawn bonds. Premium Prize Bonds are registered to a person and cannot be sold by handing over the paper.

Safer habits if you deal privately

• Meet at a bank branch in working hours, with someone you trust.
• Hold the bond and check it before any money moves: both numbers match, the value is current, the security features are there.
• Check the number on the official draw search yourself, on your own phone, not on a list the seller shows you.
• Never pay in advance and never send money to hold a bond.
• Prefer a bank transfer to a large cash payment. It leaves a record of what you paid and to whom.
• Never share your CNIC number, bank login, card details or any code sent to your phone.
• Remember what the bond is worth officially: its face value. The government pays face value on encashment and nothing more. Any price above that depends only on the next buyer.

Why Axiom Bonds does not run a bond market

Axiom Bonds does not buy, sell or list prize bonds, and it does not run a marketplace for them. Rule 3 of the Prize Bonds Rules 1999 leaves business in bearer bonds to SBP BSC offices, authorised bank branches and National Savings Centres, and SBP calls the open market an illegal parallel market. We would rather help you keep the bonds you have and claim what they win.

If you hold a special number, you can simply keep it. It takes part in every draw like any other bond, and you can encash it at face value at any of those offices whenever you want the money back. Save it in a free account and we will tell you if it wins.

Bonds and your tax return

If you file a return, the prize bonds you hold are assets and belong in your wealth statement, and the money you used to buy them should have a clear source. Prizes on bonds you hold are taxed at 15 percent if you are on the Active Taxpayer List when paid and 30 percent if not; see our tax guide. Axiom Square prepares returns and wealth statements if you want help.

Axiom Bonds is not affiliated with the State Bank of Pakistan or National Savings.