Online banking frauds have become very rampant these days, with the cyber criminals exploiting details of the account holder or PAN holder to get money fraudulently. Most banking frauds in India have their sources with PAN and Aadhaar cards. In the latest incident, cyber criminals got credit cards issued after misusing PAN card details of several celebrities, including popular cricketers M S Dhoni and actors Shilpa Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit and Emraan Hashmi. Here’s is how their PAN details were used and how can you secure your PAN card:
How Can You Avoid A PAN Misuse?
1) Avoid entering your PAN everywhere. Instead, use other ID details such as voter ID and driving licence, which are less vulnerable
2) Share your PAN details only with the authentic people or companies and sign its photocopies with the date
3) Avoid entering your full name and date of birth on online portals. These can be used to track your PAN
4) De-link Aadhaar card and bank accounts, it no longer a government mandate
5) Check your credit report regularly for any uninformed credit card issuance or loans
6) Avoid keeping PAN in your phone’s gallary, or where it can be access easily in case of phone lost
How to Check If Your PAN Card Has Been Fraudulently Used?
The CIBIL report is the best way to check for any fraudulently usage of you PAN card. The report contains all your loans and credit cards. If you find any credit card or loan in your CIBIL report that you did not get, immediately inform the authorities. Not only CIBIL, reports from other credit information bureaus can also be used such as Equifax, Experian, Paytm, Bank Bazaar or CRIF High Mark.
How To Report A PAN Misuse?
Step 1: Visit the official portal of TIN NSDL
Step 2: Search for the customer care section on the home page, which will open a drop-down menu
Step 3: Open ‘Complaints/ Queries’ from the drop-down menu. Now, a complaint form will be opened.
Step 4: Fill in the detail required in the complaint form. Enter the Captcha code and click on ‘Submit’.
How Celebrities’ PAN Details Were Obtained and Misused?
The fraudsters got GST details of these celebrities from Google. They were aware that the first two digits of GSTIN are state code and the next 10 digits are PAN number. Since the celebrities date of birth are available on Google, these two — PAN and date of birth — complete the PAN details. They got the PAN cards remade fraudulently putting their own pictures on it so that during video verification, their looks match with the photo available on PAN/Aadhaar card.
They forged their Aadhaar details in similar fashion. After getting this information, they applied for credit cards. During video verification, they were asked questions related to their financial activities which they answered easily as they had got all such details from CIBIL.
They were aware that these celebrities possibly have good CIBIL scores which would brighten their chances of getting credit cards.
FPL Technologies said these fraudsters approached the company through their app by uploading the details such as PAN and Aadhaar number to get credit cards, ‘One Card’, issued in their names.
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