Some residents in Zhangjiagang of Jiangsu province said they have been duped by cheaters using Taobao.com who asked them to pay by scanning a QR code.

A man surnamed Yang said he planned to buy a razor on Taobao.com, so he asked the seller about details such as delivery time. When Yang decided to buy it and was ready to pay, the seller told him that if he pays by scanning the QR code, he could get a 10 percent discount.

Yang thought it was convenient and he could save money, so he scanned the code sent by the seller, but the system said the payment was not successful. He was urged to pay again. He ended up paying a total of 400 yuan, before realizing that he was cheated.

“The method of paying by scanning the QR code aims to avoid the usual trading process of Taobao.com, which allows customers to pay money into Alipay and transfer the money to the seller after they receive the goods. With QR code, the money will be transferred directly to the cheater’s bank account,” a policeman said.

The policeman suggests that people should be careful about paying with QR code scanning.