Four misuse PM’s name to dupe loan seekers of Rs 4 crore

Member of a local party from UP among the arrested; gang advertised fake schemes in newspapers and operated through apps and web portals

The Crime Branch has arrested four people, including a leader of a local political party from Uttar Pradesh, for defrauding loan seekers of Rs 4 crore by misrepresenting central schemes and PM’s name. The gang has cheated about 4,000 people, said the police.

The gang tweaked the name of central loan schemes to trick people

The four operated from UP through 11 android applications and web portals and had spent about R30 lakh on advertisements in newspapers. According to the cyber cell of Mumbai police, the gang used names like ‘PM Bharat Loan Yojana’, ‘PM Loan Yojana’, and ‘Pradhanmantri Mudra Yojana’ to trick people as one could easily mistake them for a government scheme.

They also created three websites using PM’s name and photo. “They have been using these tactics to lure needy people for easy loans and would ask them to pay a small processing fee. Most of the victims did not complain as the amount was just a few thousand,” said Milind Bharambe, joint commissioner of Crime. Over 2.8 lakh people downloaded the applications and scores submitted their applications believing they would get loans, the police have found.

“We have also noticed that they used to remove the apps from the Google playstore time and again and add new ones with similar names to evade law enforcing agencies,” said Rashmi Karandikar, DCP of cyber cell. The cybersleuths first noticed the gang’s activities on social media and began tracking them. 

They recently raided a call centre in Aligarh and arrested Sanjeev Kumar Singh, 36, Pranjul Rathod, 27, Ramnivas Kumavat, 25, and 42-year-old Vivek Sharma. Mastermind Singh is associated with Rashtrya Lok Dal, said the cyber cell. “We faced a lot of difficulties while arresting him but Triveni Singh, SP-cyber, of Uttar Pradesh police provided us local support,” Karandikar added.

All four have been booked for forgery, impersonation apart from charges under the IT Act.

4k
No. of people the gang has cheated till date

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