Woman loses over ₹61K after seeking loan on Instagram

MUMBAI: A restaurant owner from Worli-Koliwada was duped of more than ₹61,000 after she applied for a loan at a low-interest rate on Instagram.

The complainant, Rutali Kolge, approached the police on Thursday and told them that she first came across the advertisement in a reel on February 17. As she was looking for a loan to expand her business, she decided to click the “apply” button in the reel which prompted her to fill in her details on an online form.

Later that day, she got a call from a person, who introduced himself as Pankaj Singh Bhaduria, a representative of the finance company she was seeking the loan from.

After explaining the terms, period, rate of interest and other details to the complainant, the representative convinced her to apply for a ₹ 10 lakh loan instead of the ₹ 5 lakh which she wanted earlier. As a way to ascertain his identity, the man also sent the complainant an identity card with the logos of the company.

“He then asked for my PAN card, Aadhar card and other documents which I sent him on WhatsApp. He also sent me a QR code to pay the processing fee.

On the payment of this fee, he also sent me a PDF file which he said was my loan approval document,” she said in her statement to the police.

The complainant also received an email asking to pay the NEFT and RTGS fees. When she paid them using the QR code Singh had sent earlier, he said the amount was not credited and asked her to resend it which she did. He also assured her that the previous amount would be sent back. Next, she was to pay advanced GST and TDS as well.

When she was asked for more money in the name of yet another part of the process, she put her foot down and asked to visit their office. The representatives gave her an address in BKC. However, when her mother and brother visited the place the next day, they did not find any office of the said company in the building, she told the police.

Upon realising that she has been conned, Kolge, 24, approached the police and filed a complaint. An official from Dadar police said that they had registered a case against the two people named by the complainant in her statement. “The two accused have been booked under sections 419 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code as well as the relevant sections of the IT Act,” he said.