A latest media report reveals that some banks are forging customers’ consent after withdrawing money illegally from accounts for the Narendra Modi-led government’s flagship insurance schemes.
Banks Executing Frauds While Enrolling In Government’s Life Insurance Scheme
The news is also backed by reports coming from several account holders across the country complaining about unauthorized debits from their bank accounts for the central government’s insurance schemes.
It appears that these financial institutions have enrolled customers without their consent in the life insurance scheme.
These schemes include Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), accident insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY).
Further, these kinds of issues were reported in the case of the Centre’s micro-pension scheme called Atal Pension Yojana (APY), as per the media report.
Earlier these welfare schemes were launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during May 2015 in order to provide financial security to the poor.
Notably, the premium for these schemes is pretty low where PMJJBY is Rs 436 a year and Rs 20 a year for PMSBY.
Here, PMJJBY offers a cover of Rs 2 lakh to a nominee in the event of a policyholder’s death due to any reason.
Similerky, PMSBY offers a cover of Rs 2 lakh in case of death due to an accident and Rs 1 lakh in case of a severe accident injury.
While in case of APY, policyholders get a monthly pension of up to Rs 5,000 after the age of 60 years.
Why Would This Happen?
It appears that the bank employees are entering fabricated data which includes bogus nominees to activate the insurance schemes without the policyholder’s or account holder’s consent, as per the report.
Here the question arises, why would bank employees do that?
It seems that the bank’s employees are adopting such fraudulent practices to enroll customers in these schemes.
This is happening due to the fact that the government is applying pressure to enroll in such schemes.
Media reported, “Often, those enrolled in insurance schemes without consent are not aware that they are paying a premium for an insurance cover. This prevents family members from availing the schemes’ benefits, rendering their premium payments—unauthorized to begin with—futile.”
Adding, “New evidence reveals that this malpractice has since been institutionalized, with regional, zonal and even head offices executing these frauds and forcing branches to conceal.”
