Hyderabad: Mirchowk police arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly using a fake UPI screenshot to cheat a government employee of Rs 10,000. The alleged fraud took place at an ATM near the City Civil Court in Purani Haveli.
Police identified the accused as Abdallah Obaid Bin Abdat Al Katheri alias Abdullah. Officers arrested him at Purani Haveli in Chattabazar on September 10. They also seized Rs 4,000 in cash and a Redmi 15C mobile phone from him.
According to police, the incident occurred at an SBI ATM on September 5. The accused allegedly approached complainant Kanduri Naveen and offered him a digital payment in exchange for cash.
Naveen worked as a gardener with the Telangana State Assembly. Police said the accused offered to transfer Rs 10,000 through PhonePe if Naveen gave him the same amount in cash.
The accused then scanned Naveen’s QR code. However, police alleged that he displayed a fake UPI screenshot showing a successful payment instead of completing the transaction. He subsequently collected Rs 10,000 in cash and left the ATM centre.
Naveen later discovered that no money had reached his account. Therefore, he approached Mirchowk police on September 8 and lodged a complaint about the transaction.
Fake UPI screenshot method allegedly used at Koti
During the investigation, police traced the accused and apprehended him in the Purani Haveli area on September 10. Investigators also linked him to another alleged cheating incident that occurred at Koti a day after the Purani Haveli case.
Police alleged that the accused used a similar method at Koti on September 6. In that incident, he allegedly displayed another fake digital-payment confirmation and obtained Rs 6,000.
Consequently, Sultan Bazar police registered a separate case over the Koti incident. Investigators alleged that the accused had followed a similar modus operandi in both cases by displaying payment confirmations without transferring the money.
Police also said the accused had previously faced several cases involving alleged cheating and other offences. Those cases had been booked at Moghalpura, Kanchanbagh, Chandrayangutta and Sultan Bazar police stations.
Detective Sub-Inspector Md Mujtaba Ali Quasim of Mirchowk Police Station was investigating the latest case. Meanwhile, senior police officers appreciated the investigation team for tracing and apprehending the accused.