Allada Peer Reddy, 45, was excitedly waiting for a food and beverage industry executive at the transit adda in Shabad mandal, Hyderabad. Reddy and other owners of light goods vehicles were to be onboarded as vendors at the conference. But when the executive told him that his auto insurance policy was void, his enthusiasm swiftly gave way to despair. The policy document looked authentic, but a quick scan of the QR code showed it was a fake. The carefully kept insurance document in a clear sheet contained a noticeable mistake: it stated “service tax” rather than “GST,” revealing it to be a faked copy of a 2017 policy.