Delhi NGO promises Rs 2500, fill forms and collects bank account & aadhaar details in South Kolkata

In Kolkata's Kalikapur bast area under Kolkata Municipal Corporation Ward no 108 area, residents leveled explosive charges against a Delhi-based NGO, accusing its agents with promises of Rs 2,500 per head to fill out forms with full bank details, Aadhaar card details, and even OTP verifications on mobile. This is a glaring spotlight on how fraudsters might be hijacking to harvest identities, preying on the poor/lower middle-class in a city.The plot thickened as eyewitnesses painted a vivid picture of the deception.

Four women knocked on doors claiming affiliation with a Delhi-based NGO urging residents to sign forms for financial aid while insisting on bank account details and  Aadhaar cards for verification. Locals shared that few neighbours handed over their requisite details, lured by Rs 2500. Local TMC Councillor Sushanta Ghosh upon complaints from the residents of Kalikapur basti area informed Anandapur Police Station who arrived swiftly and arrested them—where one is from Jharkhand and rest 3 are from Nadia—for interrogation.

The councillor first tried to enquire that what forms were being filled and was shocked by the news of the voluntary organization's money promise and then all the four women were brought to the ward office and they could not show any registration number of the Delhi-based NGO in whose name they were guiding locals to fill the forms and promising money. Kolkata Police probes with primary esrimations indicates a cyber fraud syndicate, where slum-dwellers' data could fuel everything from fake accounts to identity theft. In Kolkata's sprawling slum areas, where over a million souls scrape by, the line between aid and exploitation blurs all too easily.