Exploiting the situation of the calamity in Kerala, a fake bank account attempting to collect funds in the name of Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund has been busted.
The fraudulent account with number 20025290179, claiming to be the bank based from Trivandrum has been shared widely on social media.
However, a rudimentary search based on the IFSC code traced the bank to be located in Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu.
TNM got in touch with the SBI to alert them and seek details about the account and the donations it received so far. Responding to the queries, SBI spokesperson said that the account has been blocked since the past two days.
“That account is a fake account, which has already been blocked. No transactions can happen now. There are hardly some Rs 2,000-Rs 3,000 in the account. There were no withdrawals from it. We are deliberating on what to do with the money in the account,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson however did not disclose on how the bank found that it is a fraudulent account, who is cheating the donors.
TNM urges the donors to verify the bank account before making donations. The genuine bank account of the CMDRF is 67319948232. The Chief Minister’s official Twitter account and Facebook account have shared the account details.
In fact, the Chief Minister’s office has also cautioned people against misinformation since some fraudulent messages/posters with altered CMDRF account numbers have been spotted and has instructed Police to take stringent measures against cyber offenders.
Kerala is striving together as a fraternity to overcome the catastrophic flood. However, we have noticed that some are trying to malign this great effort with misinformation in the form of fake messages on social media. #KeralaFloods pic.twitter.com/1dVXF0gyot
— CMO Kerala (@CMOKerala) August 20, 2018
For Bank Counter Payment
Beneficiary Name : Principal Secretary (Fin), Treasurer CMDRF
Bank Name : State Bank of India (SBI)
Account Number : 67319948232
Branch : City Branch, Thiruvananthapuram
IFSC : SBIN0070028
For offline Contribution: Cheque/Demand Draft can be drawn in the favour of Principal Secretary (Finance), Treasurer CMDRF, payable at Thiruvananthapuram. The same may be posted/mailed to the following address:
Principal Secretary (Finance)
Treasurer CMDRF
Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram – 695 001
Donations made to the CMDRF are exempt of Income Tax. Besides, making donations through SBI, donations could be made through Unified Payments Interface like like Paytm, BHIM, Tez, PhonePe.