Beware of QR Code Con; Seeking buyer for used bed on e-portal, seller duped of Rs 48K

Beware of QR Code Con; Seeking buyer for used bed on e-portal, seller duped of Rs 48K

Suresh GolaniUpdated: Monday, January 27, 2020, 09:39 PM IST
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Bhayandar: Planning to sell something on online marketplaces and e-commerce portals? Be sure to cross check and verify the credentials of the person with whom you are striking a deal, or you may fall prey to the evil designs of cyber crooks who are constantly updating methods to siphon off money.

A 40-year-old civil contractor from Mira Road learnt it the hard way after he was duped of Rs 48,999, via Quick Response (QR) code transactions. Soon after placing an advertisement on the popular e-commerce portal to sell a used bed owned by one of his clients, the complainant, Harish Kochar, received a call from a crook posing as prospective 'buyer' showing his interest to purchase the bed-on-sale.

After agreeing to pay Rs 13,000 for the furniture, the caller said he could make an online payment before taking the delivery. Subsequently, the crook generated multiple QR codes and Kochar scanned all of them without realising the money was not being transferred to him but deducted from his account within a few minutes. The crook apparently kept his target engaged on the phone call while making him scan the QR codes to wipe-out the cash from his bank account.

Efforts to call back the ‘buyer’ fell flat since the phone was not reachable. It was then that he realised that the caller had cheated him.

In response to the complaint, the Naya Nagar police has registered a case under sections 419 and 420 of the IPC and sections 66 and 66-C of the Information Technology Act-2000 against the unidentified caller. Further investigations were underway.

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