Mumbai EPFO staff siphoned off over Rs 21 crore during COVID-19 pandemic

The fraudulent transactions were done between March 2020 and June 2021 and more than 817 bank accounts of migrant workers were used.

In a major shocking incident, a group of employees at a Mumbai office of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) siphoned off more than Rs 21 crore via fraudulent withdrawals, a report by Indian Express stated.

The fraudulent transactions were done between March 2020 and June 2021 and more than 817 bank accounts of migrant workers were taken for this mischievous task. The total amount withdrawn from PF is Rs 21.5 crore and then it was deposited to their accounts.

Reportedly, this money was fraudulently withdrawn from the pooled fund of EPFO, which has got deposits by registered organisations each and every month. Notably, individual PF accounts have not been misused. 

The government has already given a deadline of August 31 for linking your Universal Account Number (UAN) to your Aadhaar card and not doing so will further result in blocking the access to the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) along with its facilities.