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.

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.

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.

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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."

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.

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.

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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