Kanpur: In a major breakthrough, the Special Task Force (STF) in coordination with Kanpur commissionerate police on Friday arrested four members of a gang for allegedly defrauding people on the pretext of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and other housing schemes.The arrested have been identified as Aniruddha Singh, Ajit Singh and Dilip Singh, all residents of Sachendi, and Santosh Kumar Singh of Chaubepur area of Kanpur district.Following reports of the fraud, an STF team was formed to gather information about the members of the gang. During investigation, it came to fore that the gang members used to contact gullible people and take Rs 2,000- Rs 10,000 from them through UPI apps like GooglePay and Paytm, on the pretext of the housing schemes.They used to tell people that their money had come under PM Awas Yojana. If they pay bribe, they will get the money transferred to their account soon, informed STF inspector Satya Prakash Singh. The gang used to cheat 15 to 20 people in a day and then distribute money among themselves. The accused will be booked under various relevant IPC sections and sent to jail. We are trying to nab other members of gang, who are absconding he added. We also published the following articles recentlyHow gang used malicious ad links to empty out accountsA gang operating across multiple states has been identified for leaving malicious ads on the internet, leading people to fake websites resembling popular e-commerce portals. The gang includes female telecallers who pose as customer care representatives and trick people into following steps that result in money being deducted from their accounts. The accused, Shahrukh Akhtar, was recently caught and revealed that the racket involved procuring fake SIM cards, bank accounts, and domains to run the fraudulent operation. The gang has duped more than 15 victims and made transactions worth over Rs 25-30 lakh.Women accorded top priority under PM Mudra Yojana scheme, says Nirmala SitharamanUnion Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted the prioritization of women entrepreneurs under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana scheme and distributed sanction letters to beneficiaries of the PM SVANidhi Se Samriddhi programme. She emphasized the use of technology to eliminate middlemen and ensure direct transfer of financial aid to beneficiaries. Sitharaman also mentioned the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile Trinity and the opening of bank accounts for beneficiaries as part of the scheme. The Finance Minister discussed the loan facilities provided to street vendors through the PMSVANidhi scheme and the increase in loan amounts based on timely repayments. She reviewed the progress of the scheme in Rameswaram, an aspirational district dependent on tourism.

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