Newmai News Network SHILLONG | November 1 Fraudsters are luring villagers in Meghalaya to sell their bank accounts and use them for nefarious activities. The Special Superintendent of Police (SSP), (CID) in Meghalaya on October 31 said that villagers are lured by unknown criminals to sell their bank accounts and ATM cards for petty sums. The criminals even sponsor the opening of bank accounts and villagers are asked to open bank accounts in a number of banks. These bank accounts and ATM cards purchased from the innocent people are in turn taken to cities like Delhi, Mumbai and sold to fraudsters of foreign origin, including Indians. The fraudsters use the bank accounts for financial fraud by way of asking the victims to deposit money into the accounts as processing or claiming fees. The money deposited is immediately withdrawn using ATMs. The SSP also said that the public are receiving SMSs or emails from unknown sources that they have won big lottery and thereby, are asked to deposit money as processing or claiming fee. In this backdrop, the SSP has advised the public to ignore such SMSs; not to sell Bank Accounts (Passbook), ATM cards; or not to allow strangers to use their bank accounts. The SSP has also urged people to report or inform against frauds to the nearest police station or state Cyber Crime Wing.
