How fraudsters trick PF subscribers into transferring money to unknown accounts

Rajendra Khanna, a 68-year-old, retired person, saved himself from paying Rs 20,000 to a fraudster. In January 2020, Rajendra had received a call on his mobile number from an unknown source. The fraudster presented himself as a staff member from the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). Then, he asked Rajendra to verify personal details such as mobile number, email ID, Aadhaar number, Permanent account number (PAN), last employment details and universal account number (UAN). He gave these details to the caller assuming him to be a genuine person from the EPFO.

Then the fraudster indicated to Rajendra that since he had worked between 1990 and 2019, he was eligible for a benefit of Rs 80,000 from the EPFO. He added that the management had decided to share the benefits of the unclaimed EPFO corpus with randomly selected EPFO subscribers. To claim this amount, the fraudster asked Rajendra to transfer Rs 20,000 as commission to a particular bank account and get Rs 80,000 credited to his bank account without hassles.

Staying alert

Rajendra kept the call on hold and checked the official website of the EPFO before proceeding further. On opening the official website of the EPFO he was shocked to read a pop-up message with an alert that said, “EPFO never asks you to share your personal details such as Aadhaar / PAN / UAN over the phone. Also, EPFO never calls any member/subscriber to deposit any amount in any bank account for processing an unclaimed amount. Please do not respond to such fake calls.”

Had he transferred the amount to his bank account, he would have lost Rs 20,000. Says Rajendra, “I had disconnected the call immediately after reading the alert on the EPFO website. Later, I tried to reach the fraudster by calling on same number to seek further explanation.” This could have helped in giving a complaint to cyber-crime of the police department, but the number became inactive. Also, the person didn’t approach him again.

There are numerous EPFO subscribers targeted by fraudsters in a similar way and many of them end up transferring amounts to fraudsters’ bank accounts.

Beware of fake websites

Fraudsters also share website links on social media and claim that employees who worked between 1990 and 2019 and found their names in the list given in the website are eligible for benefits of Rs 80,000 from the EPFO.

An official from EPFO, requesting anonymity, says, “On clicking the link shared on social media, the website with the domain ‘.top’ gets opened. Government websites generally have the domain ‘.gov.in’. So, it’s one way to identify phishing websites.” Also, there is an alert that its unsecured website while opening the link shared on social media. Further, the website asks you to share the message on WhatsApp with people in your contact list and pursue them to find your name in the list to claim the ‘benefits’.

Harshil Morjaria, Mumbai-based certified financial planner of ValueCurve Financial Solutions says, “No government website asks people to share messages on WhatsApp to receive such benefits. This is a modus-operandi of fraudsters to target more people using social media.”

Morjaria adds, “Fraudsters are also sending phishing emails, following a similar ploy to lure EPF account holders. So be alert when you get such emails as well.”

Take informed decisions

EPFO members who change jobs, but do not transfer the EPF balance from the previous organisation, too, are targeted by fraudsters. They would claim that can settle the transfer process without any hassles, for a commission. Also, they seek personal details such as UAN,  PAN and Aadhaar. They claim that it’s mandatory to share for completing the provident fund transfer process. But they may use these details to defraud you.

Ashish Apte, CEO at AAA ResearchOne Financial Consultants suggests, “For any EPF-related claims/transfer or updates, do it yourself on the EPFO website or seek guidance from the human resource department of your organisation instead of relying on an unknown third person.”

What to do if you are a victim

Immediately after you realise that you have been cheated, you should lodge a first information report (FIR) report with the cyber-police department in your area. Mukul Shrivastava, Partner, Forensic and Integrity Services at EY says, “Explain the whole incident to the police personnel for their investigation, with details of email ID, mobile or landline number you received the call from, or the website you used, etc. Then, notify the EPFO office in your area of the fraud.” This would help EPFO keep an eye on any unauthorised activity happening in your provident fund account on your behalf.

The EPFO – just as banks and financial services firms did – has also started educating subscribers about fraudulent activity. To alert its members, the EPFO has warned on social media, asking them not to respond to fake offers from websites, telemarketers, SMS, email or social media claiming to help in making settlements.