The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has announced that a suspect has been arrested in connection with an ongoing investigation into fraudulent withdrawal of Employee’s Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) claims through identity theft. The accused’s name is Priyanshu Kumar.
The complaint filed by the EPFO alleged that seven establishments and other unidentified individuals were involved in fraudulent activities through identity theft. The fraudsters aimed to illegally withdraw funds from the PF accounts of genuine beneficiaries by targeting individuals whose Aadhaar cards were not linked to their PF accounts.
The accused used a specific method to commit this fraud. The fraudsters obtained an Aadhaar card with an identical name, date of birth, and gender by submitting forged documents to update an existing Aadhaar card. Then, they registered the altered Aadhaar card with fictitious establishments and linked it to the respective establishments. This allowed them to fraudulently withdraw PF funds by filing multiple online claims on behalf of the genuine PF members.
Searches were conducted at eight premises belonging to the accused and others located in Bihar, Jharkhand and Delhi. During the search, various incriminating documents, mobile phones, ATM cards, cheque books, and passbooks were recovered.
Kumar was produced before a Special CBI Court, which remanded him to four-day CBI custody.
