Viral Notice About Thieves Posing as MHA Officials Is Not Issued by Government

The viral circular was issued by a cooperative housing society in Delhi and not the government of India.

The viral letter was issued by a cooperative housing society in Delhi and not the central government.

(Source: WhatsApp/Altered by The Quint)

A circular which warns people about thieves, disguised as officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), attempting to enter their homes and loot them is going viral on social media.

• The circular, which social media users believe was issued by the government, carries a letterhead reading 'The Central Government Services Co-operative Land & Group Housing Society Limited', issuing a "High Alert" to homeowners.

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

The Quint received multiple queries regarding this circular on its WhatsApp tipline as well.

(Archives of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here and here.)

But...?: The letter has not been issued by the government. The letterhead belongs to a cooperative housing society registered in 1968 in southwest Delhi.

How did we find out the truth?: We used keywords like 'MHA ayushman scheme thieves' to look for news reports or official notices by the MHA, but did not find any from credible sources.

• We then ran a keyword search using the name of the body mentioned at the top of the viral letter — "The Central Government Services Co-operative Land & Group Housing Society Limited."

We ran a keyword search with the name of the body.

(Source: WhatsApp/Screenshot)

This led us to the website of the government's National Cooperative Database, which showed that this body was registered as a housing society in Delhi in 1968.

The body is a housing society.

(Source: National Cooperative Database/Screenshot)

We also noticed a two contact numbers on the top-right corner of the circular, and contacted one of them.

The person on the other end, who identified themselves as a "staff member," confirmed to The Quint that the cooperative was not a government body and that they had "issued this for our residents' awareness and safety some time ago."

Rehashed misinformation: Team WebQoof had debunked a similar claim back in 2019, which claimed that robbers posing as 'Department of Home Affairs' officials were looting houses while pretending to gather data for the elections.

A similar claim had gone viral in 2019.

(Source: The Quint)

Conclusion: The viral circular warning people against thieves posing as officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs was issued by a cooperative housing society, not the government.

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