Aadhaar fraud on rise; beware of fake calls

While the government has extended the deadline for linking Aadhaar with bank accounts, fraudsters have started targeting the bank account holders. There is a rise in a number of fraud calls asking sensitive details to link Aadhaar with the bank accounts.

The new deadline for linking Aadhaar with bank accounts is March 31, 2018. However, customers have been getting calls asking them to link the two before December 31. The fraudsters are trying to get hold of customers bank account number, debit/credit card details and passwords over the phone call.

According to the news on TOI, Dipti Mukherjee, a senior citizen from Middleton Street in Kolkata received several such calls. The telecaller posed as an SBI bank representative and reportedly asked for the customer’s ATM PIN number so that he can link her bank account with Aadhaar card. According to the 83-year old Mukherjee, the telecaster threatened to block the account if she does not share the details before December 31.

Mukherjee’s granddaughter confronted the telecaller and exposed the incident on the social media. Another tweet by Sumeet Singh shows that he received an SMS stating that his ATM card has been deactivated and he needs to call the mentioned number to re-activate the card. While the police are investigating both these case, banks have put out an official statement warning the customers. 

In an official statement, SBI said, “SBI or its employees never seek sensitive information like card details, internet banking passwords etc. through phone/email. We advise all our customers not to fall prey to such fraudulent calls/emails. Any such attempt may be reported to epg.cms@sbi.co.in.”

There is an active racket of fraudsters that target users to get their bank account details. These telecallers pose as a bank representative and generally try to get hold of your debit/credit card number and its PIN code. Some of them also pose as an official from Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) looking to verify the Aadhaar number linked to their PAN card.

These fraudsters often use the official UIDAI website, enter the Aadhaar number of the customer, call the same customer to get the OTP that the customer receives on the registered mobile number. They access the customer profile to change the mobile numbers. This method further compromises the bank account access using UPI-based apps that require Aadhaar number and phone number to access the account.

– Rajat Kabade

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