Beware! Cyber crooks may loot you on pretext of AAP's women pension scheme

Nikhil Bhardwaj
Ludhiana, March 31

Cyber criminals have started cheating people on the pretext of initiating registration for women pension scheme on behalf of the Punjab Government.

A link containing the infectious message is being sent to women. The link contains the message of the Aam Aadmi Party, which had announced before the Assembly elections that, if voted to power, it would give Rs1,000 to every women of Punjab.

A message (with The Tribune) states: “Respect for Punjab’s mothers and daughters. We thank you on becoming the AAP government in Punjab. As per our promises, we have started implementing public welfare schemes and you all will see a wave of change in the state soon. By filling the form given in the below mentioned link, get the benefit of Rs 1,000 per month under women pension scheme and share this message with your near and dear ones”.

Apart from the infectious link in the message, an official website address of the AAP government, www. aamaadmiparty.org, is also being mentioned which makes people believe that this could be a genuine message from the Punjab Government to claim the benefits of the women pension scheme.

Although the police have started receiving complaints of fraud with this modus operandi but so far the gang behind this is yet to be zeroed in. Police have otherwise started probe to reach out to the cyber criminals.

Ludhiana Cyber Cell in-charge Sub-Inspector Paramvir Singh told The Tribune that people had started sending complaints on the national portal of the cyber cell alleging fraud by some cyber crooks on the pretext of initiating registration for the women pension scheme.

Singh said: “Cyber criminals either send a text message regarding this scheme or they call people by posing themselves as AAP volunteers to extend the benefit of women pension scheme.

“When people click on the link and share credentials like bank account details, mobile number linked with digital apps and even OTP, money gets deducted from their bank accounts, debit and credit cards immediately,” Paramvir said, adding that people should not download these apps and click on any such links to avoid being cheated.

Avoid downloading instant loan apps

The Ludhiana police have also started sharing messages on its official Facebook and Twitter pages regarding fake instant loan apps such as “Rainbow”, “Buddy Loan” and “Coco Loan”. Once the person downloads any of these apps and shares his/her credentials with fraudsters, they either get the remote access of their mobile phones or they convince people to click on some links, which leads to the fraud.

Official website address

Apart from the infectious link in the message, an official website address of the AAP government, www. aamaadmiparty.org, is also being mentioned which makes people believe that this could be a genuine message from the Punjab Government to claim the benefits of the women pension scheme.