Merchants, public warned of UPI spoofing after college students caught in act in Coimbatore

The Coimbatore City Police have warned merchants and the public of UPI spoofing wherein scammers use fraudulent apps that mimic the interface of popular UPI apps and generate fake “payment successful” screens. Two college students were caught in the act, while using one such app in the city recently.

According to the police, R. Gowtham (20) of Agasthiyampalli in Nagapattinam and his friend Imayadhwajan Surjith (20) of Kottakulam in Tenkasi, both students of a private engineering college at Malumichampatti, visited Blue Moon Pets & Aquarium, a pet and ornamental fish shop at Sunnambu Kalvai near Karumbukadai around 10.40 p.m. on February 14. They negotiated the price for a kitten and the trader agreed to sell it for ₹5,300. Gowtham scanned the shop’s UPI QR code and showed his mobile phone’s display, indicating a successful payment, to the owner.