Odisha EOW detects ‘biggest’ QR code manipulation scam of Rs 14 crore. As per reports, the EOW had registered a case based on the complaint filed by Sanjib Kumar Parida.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch has cracked a new financial fraud and arrested the director of a Noida-based digital services firm for allegedly manipulating the quick response (QR) codes generated by a fintech company in Bhubaneswar and cheating customers to the tune of over `14 crore across the country.
The complainant had alleged that they had entered into Technology integration agreements with the Directors of Noida based Company M/s Payone Digital Services Pvt. Ltd during April-May 2023.
The agreement was for providing Digital Payment Services, and facilitation of the Finotech Service, and accordingly, IServeU had extended its UPI API to the company for the commercial utilization.
The arrested accused, Karan Kumar Singh and his brother Lallu Singh are the Directors of M/s Payone Digital Services Pvt. Ltd. The complainant’s company came to know on reconciliation that there was a significant difference in the cash balance in their Nodal Bank account maintained with the FINO Bank.
Chinese link in scam is suspected and further probe is underway, EOW official said.
A complaint in this connection was lodged by iServeU’s Sanjib Kumar Parida following which EOW registered a case under various Sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Information Technology (IT) Act.
On verification of the UPI logs, it came to light that Karan Singh and Lallu Singh allegedly manipulated the QR Codes generated by the complainant company and embezzled the extra credit of Rs 14.33 crore. The money was fraudulently diverted to more than 125 different Bank accounts from the Payout wallet of which, the User ID and Password were shared to Payone Digital Services Pvt. Ltd by the complainant company IServeU.