Teen held for QR code fraud at Chandni Chowk shop in Delhi

A 19-year-old man from Rajasthan has been apprehended for allegedly diverting digital payments by tampering with merchant QR codes at shops, including a case in which a customer was cheated of Rs 1.40 lakh at a garment store in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, identified as Manish Verma, was caught on Sunday following an inter-state operation in Jaipur, they said.

According to the police, the complainant had visited a garment shop on December 13 to purchase a lehenga worth Rs 2.5 lakh and made two UPI payments of Rs 90,000 and Rs 50,000 by scanning QR codes displayed at the shop. However, the amount was later found not to have been credited to the shop’s official bank account.

An e-FIR was registered and a technical analysis of the UPI transaction trail revealed that the payment had been diverted to an unrelated bank account operated from Rajasthan, they said.

Based on digital footprints, bank records and mobile data analysis, police traced the accused and apprehended him. During interrogation, he allegedly confessed to tampering with genuine merchant QR codes to replace the linked bank account details with his own while keeping the QR code visually unchanged, they said.

Also Read: Fake call centre in Delhi swindled people of Rs 1 crore, say police, arrest 10

The police recovered mobile phones containing over 100 edited and original QR codes, along with chats, screenshots and financial records. Examination of the accused’s bank account confirmed receipt of the cheated amount, they added.

The accused allegedly used image-editing applications to manipulate QR codes and targeted multiple shops, police said, adding that further investigation is underway to identify other victims and linked transactions.