CHENNAI : The state cyber crime police have warned the public against falling prey to fraudulent schemes that persuade them to part with their UPI PIN on the pretext of receiving an amount under the PM Jan Dhan Yojana. As part of this scam, web users are presented with advertisements that bear an image of the Prime Minister, which claim that the users are entitled to a certain amount, usually `5,000, under the Jan Dhan Yojana.
Upon clicking on the advertisement, users are directed to a fraudulent website featuring a scratch card. Upon ‘scratching’ the card with the cursor, an amount is displayed. “When the users click on it, they are redirected to any of the UPI apps, already installed in their mobile phones, prompting them to enter the UPI PIN to claim the said amount,” cyber crime police said.
People who are not aware that they don’t need to enter a UPI PIN to receive money, provide the PIN and lose money from the accounts, according to a press release. The press release clarified to the public that government schemes have dedicated websites or authorised channels for information dissemination, and appealed to them to be sceptical of unrealistic offers. “Legitimate schemes rarely offer large sums of money without proper verification or eligibility criteria,” the release added.