Moga police on Jattvibeday arrested two men for allegedly duping local shopkeepers by using fraudulent online payment applications.Acting on a tip-off from an informer, a police team rushed to the New Dana Mandi area in Moga, where the suspects were reportedly planning another scam. The accused were identified as Gurjant Singh alias Givan and Sukhwinder Singh alias Ladhi, both residents of village Manawan in Moga district.The police apprehended both men red-handed and seized the mobile devices allegedly used to carry out the fraud.The accused would purchase goods from local vendors, pretend to make digital payments, display counterfeit payment confirmation screens on their smartphones, and walk away with the merchandise without actually transferring any money.The accused allegedly exploited local merchants’ widespread reliance on digital UPI and online payment systems to carry out the fraud.They would visit local shops, markets and vendors to purchase goods or target unsuspecting merchants.They allegedly used customised or cloned mobile applications designed to mimic authentic payment gateway screens. After pretending to scan a QR code or initiate a transfer, the applications would generate realistic-looking success messages or screenshots indicating that the payment had been completed.Believing the transactions to be genuine after seeing the confirmation screens, shopkeepers would hand over the goods without verifying whether the money had actually been credited to their bank accounts, thereby falling victim to the fraud.An FIR has been registered against them under the relevant sections of the law, and further investigation is underway to determine how many shopkeepers were targeted by the duo.