<p>An engineering student faked UPI payments to dupe several shopkeepers in Bengaluru and nearby towns, police say. </p>.<p>Kanakapura resident Prashanth was arrested by West CEN Crime police after they acted on a complaint by T A Suresh, a jeweller from Raja Market, near Chickpet. </p>.<p>Suresh told the police that a young man had purchased a silver diya, plate and tumbler for Rs 1.06 lakh from his store on August 14. The customer offered to pay via UPI. Suresh agreed. A few minutes later, the customer told Suresh that his UPI scanner wasn't working but suggested a way out. He took Suresh's phone number and showed two messages on his PhonePe account. </p>.<p>One message read "received 56,000" and another "received 50,000". Suresh was convinced. The customers took possession of the goods and left. </p>.<p>But when Suresh checked his bank balance the next day, he found that the money had not been credited. He messaged on the customer's PhonePe number but didn't get a response. Realising that he has been cheated, he filed a police complaint on August 17. </p>.<p>West CEN Crime police zeroed in on Prashanth after checking the CCTV footage of the store. </p>.<p>Police said the messages on Suresh's PhonePe account were actually text messages typed by none other than Prashanth himself. </p>.<p>A further probe revealed that Prashanth had cheated a gold jeweller in Ramamurthy Nagar in a similar fashion. They also came across a camera purchase he made from a store in Vijayanagar but it's not clear if he had faked payment for it. </p>.<p>Police seized 10 grams of gold jewellery, 1.5 kg silver articles and a camera from him. </p>.<p>A police officer said Prashanth initially faked the UPI payments in his hometown and pilfered small sums. The success emboldened him to start faking payments for large sums, too, the officer added.</p>.<p><strong>Check out latest DH videos here</strong></p>
<p>An engineering student faked UPI payments to dupe several shopkeepers in Bengaluru and nearby towns, police say. </p>.<p>Kanakapura resident Prashanth was arrested by West CEN Crime police after they acted on a complaint by T A Suresh, a jeweller from Raja Market, near Chickpet. </p>.<p>Suresh told the police that a young man had purchased a silver diya, plate and tumbler for Rs 1.06 lakh from his store on August 14. The customer offered to pay via UPI. Suresh agreed. A few minutes later, the customer told Suresh that his UPI scanner wasn't working but suggested a way out. He took Suresh's phone number and showed two messages on his PhonePe account. </p>.<p>One message read "received 56,000" and another "received 50,000". Suresh was convinced. The customers took possession of the goods and left. </p>.<p>But when Suresh checked his bank balance the next day, he found that the money had not been credited. He messaged on the customer's PhonePe number but didn't get a response. Realising that he has been cheated, he filed a police complaint on August 17. </p>.<p>West CEN Crime police zeroed in on Prashanth after checking the CCTV footage of the store. </p>.<p>Police said the messages on Suresh's PhonePe account were actually text messages typed by none other than Prashanth himself. </p>.<p>A further probe revealed that Prashanth had cheated a gold jeweller in Ramamurthy Nagar in a similar fashion. They also came across a camera purchase he made from a store in Vijayanagar but it's not clear if he had faked payment for it. </p>.<p>Police seized 10 grams of gold jewellery, 1.5 kg silver articles and a camera from him. </p>.<p>A police officer said Prashanth initially faked the UPI payments in his hometown and pilfered small sums. The success emboldened him to start faking payments for large sums, too, the officer added.</p>.<p><strong>Check out latest DH videos here</strong></p>
