diff --git a/app/models/blocked_tipline_user.rb b/app/models/blocked_tipline_user.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5eb56c7612
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/models/blocked_tipline_user.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+class BlockedTiplineUser < ApplicationRecord
+end
diff --git a/app/models/bot/smooch.rb b/app/models/bot/smooch.rb
index a2e50b2206..31fd749316 100644
--- a/app/models/bot/smooch.rb
+++ b/app/models/bot/smooch.rb
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ class CapiUnhandledMessageWarning < MessageDeliveryError; end
   include SmoochMenus
   include SmoochFields
   include SmoochLanguage
+  include SmoochBlocking
 
   ::ProjectMedia.class_eval do
     attr_accessor :smooch_message
@@ -800,19 +801,6 @@ def self.add_hashtags(text, pm)
     end
   end
 
-  def self.ban_user(message)
-    unless message.nil?
-      uid = message['authorId']
-      Rails.logger.info("[Smooch Bot] Banned user #{uid}")
-      Rails.cache.write("smooch:banned:#{uid}", message.to_json)
-    end
-  end
-
-  def self.user_banned?(payload)
-    uid = payload.dig('appUser', '_id')
-    !uid.blank? && !Rails.cache.read("smooch:banned:#{uid}").nil?
-  end
-
   # Don't save as a ProjectMedia if it contains only menu options
   def self.is_a_valid_text_message?(text)
     !text.split(/#{MESSAGE_BOUNDARY}|\s+/).reject{ |m| m =~ /^[0-9]*$/ }.empty?
diff --git a/app/models/concerns/smooch_blocking.rb b/app/models/concerns/smooch_blocking.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cdf94b9e48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/models/concerns/smooch_blocking.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+require 'active_support/concern'
+
+module SmoochBlocking
+  extend ActiveSupport::Concern
+
+  module ClassMethods
+    def ban_user(message)
+      unless message.nil?
+        uid = message['authorId']
+        self.block_user(uid)
+      end
+    end
+
+    def block_user_from_error_code(uid, error_code)
+      self.block_user(uid) if error_code == 131056 # Error of type "pair rate limit hit"
+    end
+
+    def block_user(uid)
+      begin
+        block = BlockedTiplineUser.new(uid: uid)
+        block.skip_check_ability = true
+        block.save!
+        Rails.logger.info("[Smooch Bot] Blocked user #{uid}")
+        Rails.cache.write("smooch:banned:#{uid}", Time.now.to_i)
+      rescue ActiveRecord::RecordNotUnique
+        # User already blocked
+        Rails.logger.info("[Smooch Bot] User #{uid} already blocked")
+      end
+    end
+
+    def unblock_user(uid)
+      BlockedTiplineUser.where(uid: uid).last.destroy!
+      Rails.logger.info("[Smooch Bot] Unblocked user #{uid}")
+      Rails.cache.delete("smooch:banned:#{uid}")
+    end
+
+    def user_blocked?(uid)
+      !uid.blank? && (!Rails.cache.read("smooch:banned:#{uid}").nil? || BlockedTiplineUser.where(uid: uid).exists?)
+    end
+
+    def user_banned?(payload)
+      uid = payload.dig('appUser', '_id')
+      self.user_blocked?(uid)
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/app/models/concerns/smooch_capi.rb b/app/models/concerns/smooch_capi.rb
index 4ad790ea7c..469ce56d51 100644
--- a/app/models/concerns/smooch_capi.rb
+++ b/app/models/concerns/smooch_capi.rb
@@ -281,13 +281,17 @@ def capi_send_message_to_user(uid, text, extra = {}, _force = false, preview_url
       response = http.request(req)
       if response.code.to_i >= 400
         error_message = begin JSON.parse(response.body)['error']['message'] rescue response.body end
+        error_code = begin JSON.parse(response.body)['error']['code'] rescue nil end
         e = Bot::Smooch::CapiMessageDeliveryError.new(error_message)
+        self.block_user_from_error_code(uid, error_code)
         CheckSentry.notify(e,
           uid: uid,
           type: payload.dig(:type),
           template_name: payload.dig(:template, :name),
           template_language: payload.dig(:template, :language, :code),
-          error: response.body
+          error: response.body,
+          error_message: error_message,
+          error_code: error_code
         )
       end
       response
diff --git a/db/migrate/20231002202443_create_blocked_tipline_users.rb b/db/migrate/20231002202443_create_blocked_tipline_users.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3cc9c5bdaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20231002202443_create_blocked_tipline_users.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+class CreateBlockedTiplineUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration[6.1]
+  def change
+    create_table :blocked_tipline_users do |t|
+      t.string :uid, null: false
+      t.timestamps
+    end
+    add_index :blocked_tipline_users, :uid, unique: true
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema.rb b/db/schema.rb
index c8beea6b6d..b8982c24e3 100644
--- a/db/schema.rb
+++ b/db/schema.rb
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 #
 # It's strongly recommended that you check this file into your version control system.
 
-ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 2023_09_22_174044) do
+ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 2023_10_02_202443) do
 
   # These are extensions that must be enabled in order to support this database
   enable_extension "plpgsql"
@@ -195,6 +195,13 @@
     t.index ["user_id"], name: "index_assignments_on_user_id"
   end
 
+  create_table "blocked_tipline_users", force: :cascade do |t|
+    t.string "uid", null: false
+    t.datetime "created_at", precision: 6, null: false
+    t.datetime "updated_at", precision: 6, null: false
+    t.index ["uid"], name: "index_blocked_tipline_users_on_uid", unique: true
+  end
+
   create_table "bounces", id: :serial, force: :cascade do |t|
     t.string "email", null: false
     t.datetime "created_at", null: false
diff --git a/lib/sample_data.rb b/lib/sample_data.rb
index bd851ff9bf..7bacb897f1 100644
--- a/lib/sample_data.rb
+++ b/lib/sample_data.rb
@@ -1096,4 +1096,8 @@ def create_task_stuff(delete_existing = true)
     at = create_annotation_type annotation_type: 'task_response_free_text', label: 'Task Response Free Text'
     create_field_instance annotation_type_object: at, name: 'response_free_text', label: 'Response', field_type_object: text, optional: false
   end
+
+  def create_blocked_tipline_user(options = {})
+    BlockedTiplineUser.create!({ uid: random_string }.merge(options))
+  end
 end
diff --git a/test/models/blocked_tipline_user_test.rb b/test/models/blocked_tipline_user_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b6374f5555
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/models/blocked_tipline_user_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+require_relative '../test_helper'
+
+class BlockedTiplineUserTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
+  def setup
+  end
+
+  def teardown
+  end
+
+  test 'should create blocked tipline user' do
+    assert_difference 'BlockedTiplineUser.count' do
+      create_blocked_tipline_user
+    end
+  end
+
+  test 'should not create blocked tipline user if UID is blank' do
+    assert_no_difference 'BlockedTiplineUser.count' do
+      assert_raises ActiveRecord::NotNullViolation do
+        create_blocked_tipline_user uid: nil
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
+  test 'should not block the same user more than once' do
+    uid = random_string
+    create_blocked_tipline_user uid: uid
+    assert_no_difference 'BlockedTiplineUser.count' do
+      assert_raises ActiveRecord::RecordNotUnique do
+        create_blocked_tipline_user uid: uid
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/models/concerns/smooch_capi_test.rb b/test/models/concerns/smooch_capi_test.rb
index c73665c03f..791e18a7e0 100644
--- a/test/models/concerns/smooch_capi_test.rb
+++ b/test/models/concerns/smooch_capi_test.rb
@@ -286,4 +286,14 @@ def teardown
     WebMock.stub_request(:post, 'https://graph.facebook.com/v15.0/123456/messages').to_return(status: 200, body: { id: '123456' }.to_json)
     assert_equal 200, Bot::Smooch.send_message_to_user(@uid, 'Test', { 'type' => 'video', 'mediaUrl' => 'https://test.test/video.mp4' }).code.to_i
   end
+
+  test 'should block user if WhatsApp reports pair rate limit hit' do
+    assert !Bot::Smooch.user_blocked?(@uid)
+    WebMock.stub_request(:post, 'https://graph.facebook.com/v15.0/123456/messages').to_return(status: 400, body: { error: { message: '(#131056) (Business Account, Consumer Account) pair rate limit hit', code: 131056 } }.to_json)
+    Bot::Smooch.send_message_to_user(@uid, 'Test', { 'type' => 'text', 'text' => 'Test' })
+    Bot::Smooch.send_message_to_user(@uid, 'Test', { 'type' => 'text', 'text' => 'Test' }) # Race condition
+    assert Bot::Smooch.user_blocked?(@uid)
+    Bot::Smooch.unblock_user(@uid)
+    assert !Bot::Smooch.user_blocked?(@uid)
+  end
 end