Our plan of going digital, might’ve   opened a lot of options through digital  payments ,but is has also led  us to a situation where there is increasing number of UPI scams. The scams have become so popular that the moment we search about it, we can glance at the whole list. Various types of scam s take place on the UPI platform, because of the modes of deception. From sending unauthorized payment links via SMS, to deceptive UPI handles this ‘ve  occupied a big part in this world.

My Narration

A recent UPI fraud happened, where hackers are sending “Receive Money” QR Codes to people. This incident took place on the 27^th of June,2020 when a fraudster  deceptively took away Rs.5000  from the owner’s UPI wallet ,linked through Google Pay. It started 4-5 days back when this man, Mr. Praveen who claims to be in the Central Industrial Security Force(CISF) plotted against a small retail shop in West Bengal.

The shop deals in women wear, mainly sarees and suits. The man had selected 5 sarees   ,through whatsapp worth Rs.18000, after 10% discount.  He then called on the number available in social media, asking for the owner’s Google Pay number   for transfer of  money digitally. He continuously insisted on the fact that the owner’s account should’ve a balance of  minimum Rs.8000  in order for him to transfer the money. He even insisted on knowing the balance in the account. He send him his QR code written, “Receive Add Money”, and asked him to immediately  transfer Rs.5000, so that he can send him back .The owner not being user –friendly, got into the trap and scanned the QR code, paying him Rs.5000  adhering to the conditions of the fraudster. This deceptive QR code made the users believe they’re  on the receiving end, while in reality there pockets are getting emptied. The man , Mr. Praveen gave the UPI ID of his so-called manager,7027410239@paytm. This is the recent UPI  fraud, where small business units  are targeted in hope of buying their goods. This incident is an eye-opener for everyone, since he could be a hacker trying to extract money through the UPI ID.

However, there are a few ways we can prevent ourselves from losing our hard-earned money. We should first of all be user –friendly before using such apps ,and if not we should take help from our peer group or family. Then, in order to avoid any type of confusion we should choose a language we’re comfortable to communicate. We should take time, and try to read each and every step carefully before carrying out any type of transaction. In  cases of fraud, they intentionally try to divert our minds so that we hurry up the  process. The M-Pin used for UPI transactions should be kept secure and should never be shared with anyone, just like our ATM pin. In cases of such incidents, the first thing to do is to block the e-wallet immediately, as it could be a case of hacking, phishing, etc  , and our whole wallet could be emptied in seconds. We should always  make it a point, to report to the cyber crime, to make more and more people aware about such frauds.