A group of fraudsters cheated 10 shopkeepers by allegedly swapping QR codes pasted outside shops to divert payments to their bank accounts in Madhya Pradesh's Khajuraho. The police have arrested one accused and are looking for two others involved in the scam that came to light recently at the famous tourist spot about 45 km from the district headquarters in Chhatarpur. A video of the act went viral on social media sites, showing scammers sticking their QR codes outside shops in the area.
According to the police, the fraudsters swapped QR codes stuck outside shops for online payments with their own to redirect the money to their bank accounts. Officials said a medical store owner suspected that payments made by his customers were not being credited to his bank account.
On checking the CCTV footage, he found a man swapping the QR code, following which he approached the police with a complaint, and later, several such cases were found. Chhatarpur's Superintendent of Police (SP) Agam Jain said they had received complaints from 10 to 12 shops that some persons had changed the QR codes, following which a first information report was registered.
QR Code Scam in MP
He said the three accused, who hail from the Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh, replaced the QR codes with their own to divert the payment. One of the accused, Chhota Tiwari, has been arrested while a search is underway for his two associates, Jain said.
He said the preliminary investigation had revealed that the trio would go to Saharanpur for work but didn't earn enough. The official said while travelling back home to Jhansi, they decided to create QR codes on their phones and paste them in different places to earn money.
The SP said they used this method and stuck QR codes at 10 to 12 places, including street food stalls and medical shops. He said it is yet to be ascertained how much money the accused managed to divert to their bank accounts, and a probe is underway to find out if they used the QR code technique in other places as well.