Shirdi Saibaba Temple detects online fraud of illegal donations from devotees
The famed Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust (SSST), Shirdi has detected an online fraud of soliciting illegal donations from devotees within the identify of Saibaba, an official mentioned on Monday. Last weekend, the SSST authorities obtained complaints that some unknown individuals have been allegedly posing because the temple representatives and asking for donations by way of social media, offering financial institution particulars and different issues, mentioned the belief’s CEO Kanhuraj Bagate.
“We got the information from some messages on WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media groups with demands for donations from the general public for pooja, aarti, Prasad, etc. We have conducted preliminary enquiries and found they were all fraudulent persons,” an SSST spokesperson Eknath Gondkar mentioned.
Taking robust word of the event, the SSST CEO identified that in view of the Covid-19 lockdown, the Shri Saibaba Samadhi Temple has been shut for all devotees since April 5.
“Yet, under these circumstances, fictitious and an anonymous organization in Shirdi known as Shri Saibaba Sewabhavi Sansthan, Shirdi, is found to be demanding online donations on account of Thursday Annadaan for devotees through online, PayTM and Google Pay type of payments,” Bagate mentioned.
He categorically said that the SSST is not any approach related with the actions or Annadaan by the opposite group, or not linked with the online donations by way of PayTM, GooglePay, and so on, being sought within the identify of Shri Saibaba.
Bagate added that the SSST is a traditionally well-known spiritual vacation spot, with lakhs of devotees of Shri Saibaba coming there for ‘darshan’ yearly from India and overseas and the crowds are rather more on particular events.
“Taking undue advantage, some fraudulent organisations are using identical or synonymous names and indulging in cheating of devotees through their website, Facebook pages or social media accounts to collect donations in cash, online or in kind,” Bagate cautioned.
Gondkar mentioned that after making extra enquiries, the SSST would think about lodging a proper police grievance to make sure the culprits behind the purported rip-off are recognized and booked.
Meanwhile, the SSST has issued a public attraction warning the folks on these frauds and suggested them to contact the Trust authorities solely by their official web sites or e mail earlier than responding to any such requires donations.
