A 31-year-old man was arrested for allegedly duping shopkeepers on the pretext of getting their rental charges on UPI transaction soundbox waived off, police said on Saturday.
Police said the accused used to work in a bank three years ago, and has experience of installing QR code for UPI payments at shops and private vendors.
The accused has been identified as Naeem, a resident of Bhopra in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, they said. Police said that they received three such complaints in which the victims lost money.
A senior police officer said that Rs 35,000 was transferred fraudulently from the account of a 61-year-old man, who runs a grocery shop, in one complaint.
The officer said that two more complainants — a grocery shopkeeper and a ‘chole bhature’ vendor — were cheated of Rs 39,000 and Rs 7,400 respectively, adding some other such incidents were also reported.
The modus operandi of the accused was similar in all the incidents, the officer said.
Naeem targeted shopkeepers who transact money mainly using UPI and keep a soundbox in their shops. The man introduced himself as a company agent working in a reputed bank and influenced them to get the monthly rent of the soundbox waived off, police said.
During the conversation, he took the mobile phone of the victims to change settings in UPI ID linked with the bank, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast) Joy Tirkey.
He transferred the amount of the victims in his account and deleted the transaction history and other notifications, added Tirkey.
The man would then say that he would get their work done from a connected bank through his sources as he is an employee there, the DCP said.
He added that the police nabbed the accused person during the investigation.
The DCP said that Naeem confessed to his involvement in the cheating. He was found to be a graduate who worked in a bank three years ago and has experience of installing QR code for UPI payments at shops or private vendors, the officer said.
After leaving his job and got involved in gambling activities, Tirkey said.
Naeem started cheating shopkeepers and influencing them through his technical knowledge, the DCP added.
The accused also disclosed that he was involved in such work since the last six to seven months and had duped more than 40 people using the same modus operandi, police said.
Police said that Naeem had withdrawn more than Rs one lakh from an account in which he transferred the cheated amount.
Police said that on verification, seven complaints of similar nature were found registered in which he was found involved.
The cheated amount of Rs 39,000 was found deposited in the alleged bank account, which has been frozen, they added.
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