Ads on Reels, False Documents, Fake Testimonies: The Making of an MBBS Scam
Unable to afford private colleges, Indian MBBS aspirants turn to foreign shores, and on the way, fall prey to scams.
By: HIMANSHI DAHIYA
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Abandoned shops, a fast food outlet, leaking ceiling, and non-functional lifts and escalators — the Angel Mega Mall in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of Delhi, does not exactly qualify as a shopper's paradise.
The first sign of commercial activity inside this mall appears on the third floor, where little-known insurance companies occupy a few shops. It was from one of these shops that a couple and their business partner allegedly duped the families of young medical aspirants of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of securing them berths in medical colleges in Spain.
"We found out about The Internationally through an advertisement on social media," recalled Anita Meena, a government employee from Jaipur, currently posted in Delhi. Anita's 18-year-old son Anurag left for Spain in January to pursue an undergraduate degree in medicine, with the help of The Internationally, a Ghaziabad-based education consultancy.
As per their social media profile, The Internationally is a consultancy which "specialises in helping Indian students pursue their dreams of studying medicine in Europe at the world's top medical school."
"We were told that after finishing a six month long language course, Anurag will start his MBBS studies at the University of Barcelona. Now, it's almost been over seven months and my child is in Spain but there's no word on his admission. His visa is also set to expire soon," an exasperated Anita told The Quint.
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The Quint spoke to industry experts who claimed that every year, roughly 25,000-30,000 Indian students go to countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Nepal, Canada, and Kazakhstan among others to study medicine. A significant number of students also get fooled by fraud agents and counsellors while applying for MBBS courses in these countries.
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