The Hindu

• Such cases have been on the rise
• Transfer of foreign exchange for the lottery is banned
• RBI does not maintain accounts to hold funds for disbursal

Bangalore, Apr 16: Got a mail congratulating you on winning an online lottery? You would do well to ignore it. For you could be the latest prey of such mails, mostly emerging from foreign countries.

Following an increase in the number of such cases reported across the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has advised the public not to be conned by fictitious offers or remitting cheap funds from abroad, claimed to have been remitted by overseas entities to banks in India, in particular the RBI.

Several cases

The Crime Branch of the Bangalore police also confirmed a thriving racket in this regard, and they have received at least three complaints in the recent past that they are investigating. A senior RBI official in Bangalore told The Hindu that they have come across a number of cases where people wanted to invest in such fictitious offers. “We have advised many not to go ahead with transactions at the risk of losing money,” the official said.

Any transfer of foreign exchange for the lottery or lottery type schemes is banned under the 2003 Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) notification. These restrictions are also applicable to remittances for lottery-like schemes such as money circulation scheme or remittance for the purpose of securing prize money/awards. “Since such transfer of fund is banned under FEMA, people who lose money do not come forward to complain,” the RBI official pointed out.

Modus operandi

Giving out the typical modality of such offers, the RBI said that certain foreign individuals and entities, including Indian residents acting as representatives of such individuals or entities, make offers through letters and emails of huge money in foreign exchange on the pretext of helping public in their business in India. Once the contact is established, it said, the offer is followed by a request seeking details of bank account of the individuals and asking some money to be remitted to them as initial deposit or commission so that the money could be transferred.

The release said it had also come to RBI’s notice that some overseas organisations have been advising individuals, companies and trusts in India that huge sums of money for disbursal of loans in India at cheap rates has been kept in an account with the RBI and would be released after approval of RBI. To boost their claim, they even produce copies of certificate and deposit receipts purported to have been issued by the RBI are produced by such operators, the release said. The RBI, in a release, has also clarified that it does not maintain any account in the name of individuals, companies or trusts in India to hold funds for disbursal.