diff --git a/lib/rail0/error_hints.rb b/lib/rail0/error_hints.rb
index 4f99fd5..36baba7 100644
--- a/lib/rail0/error_hints.rb
+++ b/lib/rail0/error_hints.rb
@@ -62,7 +62,11 @@ module Rail0
     "unknown_token" => "the token isn't configured on this chain",
     "no_active_contract" => "no active RAIL0 contract on that chain",
     "missing_param" => "a required parameter is missing from the request",
-    "forbidden" => "not permitted for this session — on create the payer must be the signed-in address"
+    # A BARE forbidden is not a party mismatch: the gateway split those into codes of
+    # their own (not_the_payee, not_the_payer, wallet_deactivated, not_your_account)
+    # because they need different fixes. This entry kept describing one of them long
+    # after the split — and the rule it named no longer exists in the gateway at all.
+    "forbidden" => "not permitted for this session — typically the operator grant, a resource owned by another account, or a transaction signed by the wrong wallet"
   }.freeze
 
   # An actionable hint for a rail0 error code, or nil when the code is unknown.
diff --git a/spec/errors_spec.rb b/spec/errors_spec.rb
index fd57d71..927114f 100644
--- a/spec/errors_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/errors_spec.rb
@@ -112,10 +112,19 @@ def stub_error(status, body)
       end
     end
 
-    # `forbidden` is the one whose hint has to say something the code cannot: the
-    # payer/caller rule on create is the most common way to hit it.
-    it "explains what forbidden usually means on create" do
-      expect(Rail0.describe_error("forbidden")).to include("payer")
+    # `forbidden` is the one whose hint has to say something the code cannot, because the
+    # gateway sends it with NO detail for the case that matters most — a missing operator
+    # grant — so the hint is everything the caller reads.
+    #
+    # It used to promise the payer rule on create, and this example pinned that promise.
+    # Both were wrong: the gateway split the party mismatches into codes of their own
+    # (not_the_payee, not_the_payer, wallet_deactivated, not_your_account) and no longer
+    # has the rule at all. The negative assertion is the guard — it is exactly the sentence
+    # that crept in and stayed.
+    it "names what a bare forbidden actually is, not the rule that was split out" do
+      hint = Rail0.describe_error("forbidden")
+      expect(hint).to include("operator grant")
+      expect(hint).not_to include("payer")
     end
   end
 end