Chhatarpur:

A group of tech-savvy fraudsters cheated 10 shopkeepers by allegedly swapping QR codes pasted outside shops to divert payments to their bank accounts in Madhya Pradesh’s Khajuraho, police said on Tuesday.

The police have arrested one accused and are looking for two others involved in the scam that came to light recently at the famous tourist spot, about 45 km from the district headquarters in Chhatarpur, an official said.

According to the police, the fraudsters swapped QR codes stuck outside shops for online payments with their own to redirect the money to their bank accounts.

Officials said a medical store owner suspected that payments made by his customers were not being credited to his bank account.

On checking the CCTV footage, he found a man swapping the QR code, following which he approached the police with a complaint, and later, several such cases were found, they said.

Chhatarpur’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Agam Jain said they had received complaints from 10 to 12 shops that some persons had changed the QR codes, following which a first information report was registered.

He said the three accused, who hail from Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh, replaced the QR codes with their own to divert the payment.

One of the accused, Chhota Tiwari, has been arrested while a search is underway for his two associates, Jain said.

He said the preliminary investigation had revealed that the trio would go to Saharanpur for work but didn’t earn enough.

The official said while travelling back home to Jhansi, they decided to create QR codes on their phones and paste them in different places to earn money.

The SP said they used this method and stuck QR codes at 10 to 12 places, including street food stalls and medical shops.

He said it is yet to be ascertained how much money the accused managed to divert to their bank accounts, and a probe is underway to find out if they used the QR code technique in other places as well.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Several business establishments were in for a shock in Madhya Pradesh’s Khajuraho when customers scanned the QR codes at their shops but the money never reached their accounts. CCTV footage obtained later showed a group of fraudsters changing the online payment scanners overnight.

The group pasted new QR codes over the existing scanners. Around half a dozen businesses were targeted by the group, due to which payments reached the accounts of the accused, who are yet to be identified.

Among them was Omvati Gupta, the owner of Rajesh Medical Stores. When a customer made a payment via QR code at her shop in the morning, she was alerted by the former that the name on the linked account was changed.

Another establishment that fell victim to the fraud was a petrol pump. An employee said that many customers transferred money but it was not reflecting in the business’ account. “We checked the scanner and the name was coming as Chotu Tiwari. We then removed that scanner,” the employee said.

Khajuraho police station in-charge Atul Dixit said the cases of cheating were brought to his notice but no trader had filed any complaints. He added that an investigation will be conducted in the matter, expressing confidence that the fraudsters will soon be in police custody.

In the winter session of the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha last month, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav presented data on the increasing number of cyber frauds in response to a question raised by Congress MLA Pratap Grewal.

In 2024, 26 cases of “digital arrest” fraud were reported, where cybercriminals impersonated law enforcement agencies to extort over Rs 12.6 crore. This marks a 130% increase from 2023, when only one case was reported, resulting in a loss of Rs 96,968.

Out of the Rs 12.60 crore extorted in 2024, only Rs 72.38 lakh (5.74%) was recovered. In 2023 and 2024, people in Madhya Pradesh lost over Rs 150 crore to cyber fraud.

Khajuraho (MP):

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of the Ken-Betwa River Link Project at Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh.

On this occasion, he also inaugurated the Omkareshwar Floating Solar Project in Khandwa district of the state virtually.

Union Water Resources Minister C R Patil and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav handed over two `kalash’ (urns) containing waters from Betwa and Ken rivers, respectively, to PM Modi, who poured them over a model of the project to launch the ambitious program.

Nearly 44 lakh people in ten districts of Madhya Pradesh and 21 lakh in Uttar Pradesh will get drinking water under the project, which is estimated to cost Rs 44,605 crore.

Nearly 7.18 lakh agricultural families in 2,000 villages will benefit from the project, which will also generate 103 MW of hydropower and 27 MW of solar energy, officials said.

PM Modi also released a commemorative stamp and a coin in the memory of former prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his birth centenary on this occasion.

The Vajpayee government had proposed river linking as a solution for irrigation needs as well as for dealing with floods.

PM Modi also performed `bhumi pujan’ or ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of 1,153 Atal Gram Sewa Sadans costing Rs 437 crore at the Khajuraho program. 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)