RBI chief imposters loot people

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has alerted the public against scamsters who are using the name of its chief Raghuram Rajan to defraud them. In cases that have come to light, scamsters have been found luring victims into making a cash deposit of Rs 15,500 on the promise of bagging a winning amount of Rs 5.50 crore. The scamsters claimed that the 'lottery' amount is part of funds given to the RBI by the British government.

In an email, purportedly sent by Dr Rajan and ending with his "hearty congratulations" message, the victims were informed that their names were selected after the RBI chief's meeting with the United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon.

Asking the email to be kept confidential "for security reasons", the scamsters also provided name and details of a money transfer manager, with a purported employee ID card of an RBI Chief General Manager.

The RBI has said that such fictitious offers typically try to defraud the victims by using its name and are also being used as an attempt to get their personal and banking details.

After another fraud that recently came to light, the RBI recently cautioned the public that fraudsters were promising to issue credit cards in the name of the central bank. Explaining the modus operandi, RBI said that the victim is sent a credit card which allows money withdrawal up to a certain limit from a bank account. Having gained the confidence, the fraudster gets the victim to deposit a huge sum in the same account and once the money is deposited, the card stops working, the RBI added.

The RBI warned that such efforts are meant to defraud the victim and clarified that it does not carry out any business with an individual, whether through bank accounts, credit or debit cards, online banking or transfer of funds from abroad.