Fake QR code scam: Rourkela MBBS student duped of Rs 1.38 lakh

Rourkela: In a recent fraud incident, a final year MBBS student at a private medical college and hospital in Rourkela reportedly lost Rs 1.38 lakh after scanning a QR code while placing order on a shopping platform.

As per the police, she scanned the QR code after receiving a call from a person posing as a representative of the online shopping platform, who falsely claimed that her payment had not been received.

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TOI has reported that the incident took place after the student had ordered an item through the shopping platform and paid Rs 1,212 online after receiving the delivery on Sunday. Soon after, she received a phone call from the fraudster, who warned that her account would be blocked if she did not make the payment again. The caller then sent her a QR code and asked her to scan it and pay.

As soon as she scanned the QR code, Rs 29,000 was debited from her bank account, followed by two more debits totalling Rs 1.09 lakh. She then realised she had been cheated and called the cybercrime helpline number 1930 to register a complaint and later lodged a complaint with the Raghunathpalli police.

Based on her complaint, Raghunathpalli police registered a case under the IT Act on Thursday night. During the investigation, police managed to put Rs 66,000 of the stolen amount on hold, which may be recovered.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that an FIR was registered against three associates of an admission consultancy office located in Transport Nagar for allegedly duping a man from West Bengal of Rs 5 lakh on the pretext of securing an MBBS admission for his daughter.

The Sarojininagar Police booked the three, who are associated with an Education consultancy, based on a complaint filed by a resident of East Medinipur district of West Bengal.

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