Scholarship scams target parents of school students in Tirunelveli

CHENNAI: In a new scam targetting students and their parents, callers claiming to offer scholarship for students are swindling money from the parents in Tirunelveli.

Police said that they have received five such complaints so far and probing it.

In a recent case, a mysterious called the father of a student studying in Melapalayam Muslim school in Tirunelveli and said that they are offering a central government scholarship for his daughter.

According to a Maalaimalar report, the caller then proceeded to state the person's name and address and said that the bank details were wrong.

Following this, the caller asked for the father's gpay details and pin number when the person became alerted and cut the call saying he has to clarify with the school first.

When he contacted the school authorities, the father came to know that no such scholarship existed.

Subsequently, he released the recorded call on the internet as a warning to fellow parents.

Speaking about such scams, the Tirunelveli cybercrime police said that they have received five such complaints so far with people losing thousands of rupees after revealing the pin numbers.

The cops warned that the modus operandi of such callers was to offer a central government scholarship and ask the victims for their aadhar details, G Pay information and pin numbers.

Once they receive the pin numbers, they swindled thousands of rupees from their bank accounts.

Police said that these gangs have been targeting parents of class 12 students in Tirunelveli district and requested the public to beware of such scams and to never give out bank and pin number details to anyone.