Fraudsters swindle Rs 10,000-Cr as bogus Input Tax Credit

New Delhi [India], Dec 5 (ANI): Your income tax return filing document, salary slips and mark sheet might be used to claim bogus Input Tax Credit (ITC) by fraudsters who ran away with Rs 10,000 crore of public money.

According to a senior official at the Finance Ministry, some people are using others' documents and photos for Goods and Services Tax registration.

"These operators are targeting gullible people who have given their ITR documents, salary slips and photos for loan or credit card or bank account opening for GST registration," he said.

The official has found several cases of bogus ITC claim that cost Rs 10,000 crore to the exchequer in an investigation.

"Around 7,000 to 8,000 GST registrations have been used to claim bogus ITCs. When we visited the registered addresses to verify the claims, we found nothing there," the official said.

According to the official, around 20 per cent of new GST registrations are fake.

"Through a risk assessment system, we identified some traders involved in fake registration and using the registration to claim bogus ITC. Department is cancelling their registrations," he added.

Cautioning people about the fraud, the official said that people should take precautions while submitting any document for any purpose to avoid such instances. "If you are giving your crucial documents to someone, please mention the purpose on it so that it cannot be used in any fraud," he cautioned.