Public warned over bogus fund raising moves

Visakhapatnam: Ex-servicemen in the city alerted the people to verify the background of organisations and bodies which are raising funds for families of martyrs who sacrificed their lives in the recent Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

Some ex-servicemen in the city came across such fraud campaigns to collect money for slain jawans. Taking advantage of circumstances, the fraudsters are collecting money in the name of army welfare fund, battle causalities and others, said Maj Navdeep Singh, a retired soldier from paramilitary forces.

As the Pulwama incident has evoked a widespread support both financially and emotionally for jawans, fraudsters are giving some bank details along with IFSC code and branch names on social networking platforms to collect funds for martyrs. People should check the authenticity of bank account and organisation before depositing money, he said.

He said army headquarters had already issued a notification in 2016 and appealed the public not to fall prey to such schemes. “We urge the public if they want to contribute any funds for helping the martyrs’ family, they can directly approach the State or Centre otherwise they can pay through online via Google pay as there is new option of CRPF-bharatkeveer@sbi,” said Maj Singh.