A top lawyer has been arrested in China for stealing donations from Buddhist temples in several provinces by changing the receipts’ QR codes to his own. The man, whose identity was not disclosed, confessed to police that he had stolen more than 30,000 yuan (Rs 3.5 lakh) from temples in the southwestern provinces of Sichuan and Chongqing and the northwestern province of Shaanxi this year, the Beijing Youth Daily reported. He is believed to have a master’s degree in law from one of the country’s most prestigious universities. The case came to light after police in Shaanxi released video footage of him at the city of Baoji’s Famen Temple this month.
A clip from the temple’s security camera shows the man kneeling in front of a Buddha statue that was next to the donation box, along with other visitors. He then places a piece of paper with his personal QR code on the box over the temple’s code.
The man then bowed three times to Buddha with his hands folded in prayer. Before leaving the temple, he puts a banknote in the box, the value of which is unclear. After police caught him, he confessed that he had used the same technique to steal from other Buddhist institutions in other provinces. All the money he stole was returned, police said.
The story has generated a lot of interest online, with 6.1 million views on Douyin alone. “A Chinese proverb says that there is a deity above us and therefore we should not do bad things. Now they should change that and say that there is a surveillance camera above us,” said one online observer.
“He is studying law but still breaks the law,” said another. Theft of donations from Buddhist temples is not uncommon in China. In July, a man in the southeastern province of Jiangxi was arrested for sneaking into a temple and breaking open the donation box several times. A man in Shanghai was also arrested last year for stealing money from a Buddhist nunnery’s donation box.
He defended himself by saying he only borrowed the money after receiving permission from Buddha, who signalled with a hand gesture that “it’s OK to do this.”
Besides, a UK company is warning motorists about a scam involving QR codes placed on parking meters in several car parks across the country.
Motor vehicle services company, RAC is reporting a wave of fake QR codes on municipal parking meters known as “quishing” – QR phishing. This scam code takes its victims to a fake website that tricks users into thinking they are paying for parking by phone.
In reality, the scammers use this fake website to steal the victim’s credit card details so they can withdraw money from their bank account. The scam has been discovered in several UK boroughs and most councils say they do not normally use QR codes on their parking signs, reports The Guardian.
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