Malayinkeezhu woman duped of Rs 6800 in Mudra Yojana fraud

Wednesday 06 December, 2023 | 9:41 PM READ MALAYALAM VERSION

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Online fraud has crept into society in different ways and for the first time, PM Mudra Yojana, a central scheme that provides collateral-free loans to small entrepreneurs is also being used by culprits to siphon money from people. A Malayinkeezhu woman fell into the trap of these scamsters and lost Rs 6800.

The cyber police said they would investigate the issue and shared doubt about more crimes through this trap. The siphoning incident happened after the gang contacted the women through the social media app Messenger.

The woman, a nursing assistant at a private hospital, is the president of Kudumbashree's 20-member unit. She approached for an online loan through PM’s Mudra Yojana and the response received seemed genuine. The stranger later acquired her number on WhatsApp and started conversing through this online application.

The gang promised the woman Rs 1 lakh without CIBIL score and said the woman need not approach the bank. Rs 3,101 for 36 months and Rs.1900 as insurance was suggested. The woman then paid through the WhatsApp payment gateway. Aadhaar and PAN card information was also provided. Rs 4900 was also paid as TDS.

Later the women received a message in Malayalam saying the loan was approved. The message also promised the amount to reach the women within three working days. Both in WhatsApp and Messenger, a forged logo similar to that of Mudra Yojana was used to affect credibility.

The fraud was detected when another message came demanding Rs.5000 as GST. The woman asked for a refund of her amount and shockingly the WhatsApp messages stopped coming. The woman said that she applied for the loan out of faith in the Prime Minister. A man in Parassala also fell prey to a similar fraud the other day.