Kerala Police Warns against Whatsapp-based Gift Voucher Scam Claiming to be issued by Reserve Bank of India
The recent advisory is just one among a series of warnings about financial fraudsters posing as Authoritative Bodies
The Kerala Police has issued a note of warning regarding a Whatsapp-based financial scam purportedly in the name of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The scamsters send in a message to unassuming individuals bearing the tagline “You have received a Gift Voucher of ₹50 Lakh, Congratulations!”. The message is coupled with a sham gift voucher claiming to be from the RBI. Further, a...
The Kerala Police has issued a note of warning regarding a Whatsapp-based financial scam purportedly in the name of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The scamsters send in a message to unassuming individuals bearing the tagline “You have received a Gift Voucher of ₹50 Lakh, Congratulations!”. The message is coupled with a sham gift voucher claiming to be from the RBI. Further, a Whatsapp link shall be provided to the targets, calling on them to open the link in Whatsapp to proceed with attaining the gift voucher.
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The targets are then added to a Whatsapp group wherein they are sent pictures of the “prizes” received by them along with instructions on how to claim the prize. The scamsters inform the targets that they are required to pay Goods and Services Tax (GST) to avail the gift voucher and ask them to transfer money to sham bank accounts.
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The scam does not end here as the fraudsters continue to ask for money under various pretexts of completing the gift voucher process. If the targets become suspicious or refuse to pay the amount, the fraudsters take it a step further by threatening action against the targets by warning of them of coercive and punitive action by various governmental ministries and investigative agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the National Investigation Agency Government of India (NIA).
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The fraudsters provoke the individuals claiming that they have illegally enriched themselves without paying due tax amounts and threaten them until a massive amount is siphoned off by them.
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RBI has time and again alerted citizens that such demands claiming to be in the name of RBI, other nationalized banks or from Governmental bodies are fraudulent and warned citizens not to fall in their trap. Do stay aware of such scams and protect yourself and your loved ones from such delinquent offshoots of the society.
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The Police have instructed citizens to immediately call 1930 and report any such fraudulent activity.
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