PMMVY Scam Targets Pregnant Women in Gujarat Village, Two Lose Rs 20,000
In a distressing incident from Rajpar village in Surendranagar district, Gujarat, pregnant and lactating women enrolled under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) have become victims of a sophisticated cyber fraud scheme. Fraudsters posing as government officials made phone calls to approximately 30 beneficiaries linked to a local anganwadi centre, exploiting their trust and limited digital awareness to attempt extracting One-Time Passwords (OTPs).
How the Scam Unfolded
The callers, claiming to be from Gandhinagar, contacted the women under the guise of verifying pending payments under the maternity benefit scheme. They informed the beneficiaries that their Rs 3,000 benefits were yet to be credited and requested OTPs generated on their phones to complete the payment verification process. Alarmingly, the fraudsters already possessed personal details of the beneficiaries, making their calls appear genuine.
Aarti Panchala, a 40-year-old anganwadi worker from Rajpar, recounted the incident: "They said they were calling from Gandhinagar and asked if we had received Rs 3,000 under the scheme. They already had personal details of the beneficiaries, which made them sound genuine."
Financial Loss and Community Impact
While 28 women refused to share their OTPs, two women unfortunately complied, leading to unauthorized withdrawals from their bank accounts. Together, these two women lost approximately Rs 20,000—a substantial amount for villagers where this money is typically allocated for household needs, food, and healthcare.
"For villagers here, that amount is huge," Panchala emphasized. "It is money meant for household needs, food and healthcare."
Awareness Campaigns Prove Partially Effective
Rajpar, with a population exceeding 4,000, has been the site of repeated consumer-awareness programs conducted by the Ahmedabad-based Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC), which adopted the village for such initiatives. One program specifically focused on cybersecurity and digital fraud prevention.
"Because of these sessions, most women were alert and did not share OTPs," Panchala explained. "They knew that no government official asks for such information on the phone."
Similar Incidents in Nearby Villages
This cyber fraud targeting welfare schemes is not isolated to Rajpar. During inter-village community meetings, anganwadi workers from nearby Bala village reported a similar incident where over 20 women lost money to comparable scams.
For some residents, however, awareness came too late. Vaishali Sutani, a 25-year-old PMMVY beneficiary and saree trader from Rajpar, lost Rs 20,000 to a scam in September before the awareness campaign was conducted.
"They called saying they were checking whether money was deposited," Sutani recalled. "They asked if I used PhonePe or Google Pay and then sent me a link. As soon as I clicked it, money got debited from my account." Sutani later discovered her phone had been compromised, granting fraudsters access to her banking details.
CERC Flags Growing Rural Cyber Threats
As part of its Jagrut Grahak Gam initiative, CERC runs consumer awareness programs in Rajpar village. These include cybersecurity seminars where residents are warned against sharing OTPs, clicking unknown links, or responding to unsolicited calls.
Sunil Parekh, CERC chairman, highlighted that cyber fraud is increasingly affecting rural India: "Cybersecurity is often seen as an urban issue, but a large rural population now uses smartphones without adequate digital awareness, making them highly vulnerable. In villages, such frauds can wipe out life savings, and once accounts are closed, the chances of recovery are remote."
Parekh added that consumer exploitation in rural areas extends beyond digital fraud, noting that expired or near-expiry FMCG products from cities often make their way into rural markets, making sustained consumer awareness even more essential.
The Bigger Picture
This incident underscores the critical need for enhanced digital literacy and cybersecurity awareness among rural populations, particularly women beneficiaries of government welfare schemes. As India's digital penetration deepens, protecting vulnerable communities from such exploitation becomes increasingly urgent.
