BENGALURU: Siddegowda, a 41-year-old farmer from Channapatna, lost Rs 55,000 to cybercriminals who allegedly promised him a loan of Rs 8 lakh under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY).
The scheme was launched by the prime minister on April 8, 2015 for providing loans of up to Rs 10 lakh to non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises. The loans are given by commercial banks, regional rural banks, small finance banks, microfinance institutions, and non-banking financial institutions.
The borrower can approach any of these institutions or can apply online through the government portal. “Under the aegis of PMMY, Mudra has created three products: ‘Shishu’, ‘Kishore’ and ‘Tarun’ to signify the stage of growth or development and funding needs of the beneficiary micro-unit or entrepreneur,” the official website states.
In Siddegowda’s case, the cybercriminals took advantage of the farmer’s ignorance and used the scheme to con him. Ramanagara district cybercrime police registered a cheating case against unknown miscreants on Saturday.
Siddegowda told police that he received a call from an unknown number on May 4 and the caller introduced himself as a representative of Mudra Finance Ltd, Mumbai. He informed Siddegowda that he was eligible for a loan of Rs 8 lakh under PMMY and could use it to establish a business.
The miscreant asked Siddegowda to share his voter ID, PAN card and Aadhaar card to process the loan. “After Siddegowda sent his documents, he was asked to pay Rs 5,200 as agreement fee. Later, he was asked to pay Rs 15,600 for a no-objection certificate,” a police source said.
The conmen allegedly sent Siddegowda a fake demand draft (DD) for Rs 8.4 lakh in his name and asked him to pay some more money in the name of other charges, including security deposit. He paid around Rs 34,000 more and took the DD to a nearby bank, where he found out that it was fake, police said.
