Cyber criminals misusing Jan Dhan Yojana for defrauding

Bengaluru, May 10: For cyber criminals, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) seems to be benefiting. It is found that, criminals have been misusing bank accounts opened under PMJDY to execute fraudulent transactions.

Complaints filed in Cyber Crime Police Station of Bengaluru Division and CID Cyber Crime has revealed cyber criminals are indulging fraudulent money transfer through these accounts.

Bank accounts opened under the PMJDY scheme has been used by the criminals as stop points, for the victims to transfer money, officers investigating the cases discovered this. Besides, fraudsters have opened accounts under PMJDY by providing fake or forged documents.

This fresh tactic of opening account with forged documents has facilitated criminals to clear their track as well as made the task of the investigators tough to nab the culprits.

In one of the cases, cyber cops had claimed victory in tracing the details of a bank account which was used to defraud a person online- to Noida. The bank account was opened under PMJDY, it is established by the cops during the investigation.

After verifying the documents submitted to open the account, the police have found that documents were forged. The culprits produced fake Aadhaar card and Voter ID cards. This has made the cops investigating this case clueless as to who is the real account holder.

In another case, a person named Krishnamoorthy Ramalingam from Chennai was fooled by cyber criminals. He paid an advance amount to buy a car after seeing an advertisement in Quickr website. Ramalingam transferred the money to an account number provided in the Quicker, but later to realize that he fell prey into the hands of criminals. In this case too, the account was opened under PMJDY by producing false documents.

According to an official in Cyber police, it had become easy for the fraudsters to open accounts in banks using false documents, following the implementation of PMJDY scheme. "They manually withdraw the amount as soon as it is deposited. Before a complaint is filed and investigation is launched, the culprit will have taken off. This often leaves us clueless and breaks down the flow of the investigation," the official said.

The official added that the criminals have taken advantage of the Yojana, as anyone can open a zero balance account. "Though there are some regulations, not all banks can impose them strictly due to
inadequate manpower. As a result, there will not a be a thorough verification of the documents submitted.

No fraud accounts under PMJDY in Karnataka

According to H K Suresh, AGM of State Level Banker's Committee (SLBC) says, in Karnataka such accounts were not opened so far. He informed that considering the fresh cases in this connection, new guidelines will be formulated to prevent ill acts.

Suresh divulged a through check of documents of account holders has been to done to avoid frauds Another representative of SLBC, under the condition of anonymity said, though such cases were not reported from the State, it would be easy for criminals to replicate the same.

Noting that it was difficult for banks to verify all details of people opening accounts under PMJDY, he said Aadhaar verification too did not help much, as the card was not required to open an account under the scheme.

He added that the Centre must issue regulations to prevent fraud under PMJDY, by regulating the number of accounts one can hold under PMJDY, ensuring proper verification and closing all
zero balance accounts that have remained unused for a year or more.

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