The cyber crime wing of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) on Wednesday took custody of four members of a gang from Bharatpur n Rajasthan from their counterparts in Hyderabad, Telangana. The four accused are allegedly involved in an inter-State QR code scam where they would dupe people on social media and online market platforms while posing as defence personnel and IPS officers.
“The gang would post items for sale, and, in some cases, even pose as buyers,” said a police official.
If they posed as sellers, they would send a QR code to a buyer and ask him or her to transfer an advance payment. As soon as the buyer scanned the QR code, the accused would get access to his bank account and withdraw cash. There were several such cases reported in Bengaluru over the past year.
In September, the Hyderabad police tracked down the accused after registering over 40 cases in that month. “In Bengaluru, the accused have cheated hundreds of people of several lakhs of rupees,” the police official added.
They have been identified as Wajeed, 30, Suhel khan, 20, Shahid Zahoor, 28, and Umair Khan, 31.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil requested people to exercise caution while purchasing items on online platforms.
In February this year, the cyber crime police had arrested five people, also from Bharatpur, who were allegedly part of a similar online cheating racket.
