COIMBATORE: An unidentified gang, under the garb of the Tamil Nadu Education Department, has been defrauding parents of college students in Coimbatore and swindling money on the pretext of crediting a scholarship amount for their children's higher education.
Affected students and parents complained to the city's cybercrime police unit, urging action against scammers.
Employing sophisticated methods, scammers target parents of college students, claiming to be calling from the Tamil Nadu School Education Department under the 'Illam Thedi Kalvi' scheme. They then promise parents educational scholarships via Google Pay and PhonePe.
In a shocking incident, seven students who had studied at a government-aided school in the city three years ago and are now pursuing higher education in different colleges, became victims of the fraud, and a few had lodged a complaint.
Police said they have received around 36 such complaints from students who had completed their school education at select educational institutions in the city.
S Deepak from Ram Nagar in the city had cleared Class 12 from a government-aided school at RS Puram, and is now pursuing his second year in BSc IT at a private college. His parents received a call from an unknown person on Wednesday, claiming to be from the Tamil Nadu Education Department's 'Illam Thedi Kalvi' scheme.
The caller, using details from Deepak's school records, informed his parents that a state government scholarship for Deepak's higher education was available and would be credited to his parents' bank account.
"My parents, believing this, provided the requested details, and the caller claimed that Rs 38,500 was ready to be transferred. He then instructed my parents through a video call on WhatsApp to scan a QR code shown on their screen to receive funds, but upon entering the PIN numbers, he swindled Rs 28,554 from my parents' bank account.
The perpetrator avoided coming on camera but asked my parents to turn on their mobile camera during the video call, to see their account balance and PIN. They swindled the entire amount available in the bank account and went offline," Deepak told TNIE.
He added that many of his schoolmates were cheated by the same gang, using the same modus operandi.
"The scammers spoke Tamil with a Hindi accent and showed a fake ID card, claiming to be from the 'Illam Thedi Kalvi' scheme. We have shared the audio conversations, photo evidence, and banking details with the police. We don't know how they find the details of a particular batch of students," Deepak further said.
Another student, seeking anonymity, said that the scammers approach their parents only when they have gone to college. "We have alerted all our classmates to avoid being caught in the scam, and we hope the police will trace them down, including those who sold our data collected in school," he said.
A police officer from the cybercrime unit said they have been receiving multiple complaints about scholarship-related scams. He stressed people must be cautious when asked to scan QR codes sent by unknown people.
"Passwords and PIN numbers are only required when sending money from our account, not to receive money. We have been raising awareness in schools and colleges, and people need to stay vigilant," he said.