A phony website operating under its identity was discovered by MHADA authorities on August 13. It has already ensnared a number of people hoping to win a home through the MHADA lottery in 2024. The Mumbai police’s cyber cell has received a complaint from the housing authority.
Officials from MHADA said that after an applicant visited their office to complete the necessary paperwork and claimed to have already made the payment, they discovered the deception. As per the officials, the applicant was toured around a Low Income Group apartment in the building. It was said to have cost about ₹30 lakh.
After the 2,030 apartment lottery for several housing developments in Mumbai was announced, Sanjeev Jaiswal, the CEO and vice-president of MHADA, advised applicants to proceed with care.
But in the case under report, the victim disregarded these procedures and followed the crooks’ instructions to deposit money straight to the phony website. The MHADA administrators indicated in an official statement that they never asked for direct payments before the formal application procedure was finished.
According to the MHADA statement, the entire process—from registration to the apartment handover—is carried out online and doesn’t require any monetary transactions or the involvement of middlemen. The public has been advised by MHADA not to interact with any unofficial websites or provide personal information to unauthorized parties.
Source: Hindustan Times
