Law graduate caught stealing ₹3.5 lakh from temples with clever QR code trick
The individual, whose identity remained undisclosed, admitted to the police that he had stolen over approximately ₹3.5 lakh from temples.
A law graduate in China was arrested for stealing donation money from Buddhist temples. As per reports, he switched the QR code present at the temple with his personal one, so any time a visitor would give money, it would end up going in his bank account. He is believed to have completed his master's degree in law from the country's most prestigious university.
The individual, whose identity remained undisclosed, admitted to the police that he had stolen over US $4,200 (approximately. ₹3.5 lakh) from temples in the northwest Shaanxi province and the southwest Sichuan and Chongqing province this year, according to the Beijing Youth Daily. (Also Read: Dehradun temple throws slippers off the hillside in viral video: ‘respect our customs’)
After video footage of him at the Famen Temple in Baoji city was made public by Shaanxi police, his crime came to light. The video shows the man and other visitors bowing in front of a Buddha statue that was adjacent to the donation box. He then overlays the temple's QR code on the box with a piece of paper bearing his own. The man then makes three bows toward the Buddha, reported the South China Morning Post.
He admitted using the same method to steal from other Buddhist institutions in different provinces once the authorities apprehended him. According to investigators, he gave back all the money he had taken.
A 45-year-old man was taken into custody in the Nayagarh district of Odisha on charges of stealing valuables from temples in southern regions. Ghanashyam, who has been implicated in over 50 instances of temple valuable theft, was arrested from his hiding place in Nayagarh district, according to Ankit Verma, the sub-divisional police officer of Jeypore in the Koraput district. Ghanashyam was involved in valuable temple theft at the Sri Vasavi Kanyaka Parmeswari temple in Jeypore and another temple in the Rayagada district.