Man held for cheating over 200 traders with fake payment app

Man held for cheating over 200 traders with fake payment app

He used Paytm clone to dupe people into thinking money was transferred

30/05/2021

Staff Reporter NEW DELHI

A 21-year- old man has been arrested for allegedly cheating over 200 shopkeepers using a PayTM clone, making the victims believe he paid them, the police said on Saturday.

DCP (South-West) Ingit Pratap Singh said the accused has been identified as Kunal Sharma alias Sonu from Uttam Nagar.

The case came to the fore when a general store owner in Palam Village, Ramesh Kumar, complained to the police that on May 20, a man came to his shop to buy refined oil for ₹2,560.

During payment, the man allegedly told the victim that he is not carrying cash and asked if he accepted payment via Paytm.

Next, Mr. Kumar gave him his Paytm QR code for scanning. The accused told Mr. Kumar that his mobile phone camera was broken, and he would pay him using the victim’s number on Paytm.

“Then the accused took the shopkeeper’s mobile number and entered it in the spoof app. Next, a notification similar to that of Paytm flashed on the accused’ mobile screen which he showed to Mr. Kumar,” the officer said, adding that the complainant got an impression that the payment was done. The accused also forwarded a pre-drafted message regarding his payment to the complainant.

A probe was taken up and Sharma was arrested. During interrogation, he allegedly told the police that he has cheated more than 200 shopkeepers this way.

Sharma is a Class X graduate and currently unemployed. “As he is well versed with online payment apps, he hatched this conspiracy to cheat shopkeepers,” Mr. Singh said.