Cases of cyber fraud using ‘Aadhaar Enabled Payment System’ (AEPS) are on the rise in India. People are losing their hard-earned money especially in A, B and C category cities. 116 new cases have been reported in Bengaluru alone, belonging to small towns and villages in the states of Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad in Telangana, Nawada in Bihar, Bharatpur in Rajasthan, Haryana, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Apart from this, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jharkhand and many other states are also included in it. While Aadhaar card has become the main identity card of Indians, now it has also become the main weapon of ‘swindlers’ to cheat people. That is why the question of what to do and what not to do regarding Aadhaar card comes in the mind of many people.

New cases come to light in Bangalore

Both Mohammad Parvez Yazdani and Abuzar Shamim Akhtar from Bihar have been arrested in the Bangalore case. Both of them did not contact people in any way through phone call or mobile message for OTP. Even so, people know that they have been cheated when they receive a message from the bank that money has been withdrawn from their account. This is the same type of operation that was first seen in Hyderabad in 2018, when a shopkeeper selling mobile SIM cards duped people by copying fingerprints and mobile numbers. In the Bangalore case, the victims of fraud must have visited the office of the secondary registrar at some point to register the sale or purchase of property. Registration of their documents means that the documents become public as soon as they are uploaded on the stamp and registration department’s website Kaveri 2.0. The accused downloaded the documents and duped the victims using their Aadhaar numbers and biometric details. The good thing about this case was that the fraudulent withdrawals were not more than Rs 25,000 per day, as ‘AEPS’ (Aadhaar Enabled Payment System) does not allow withdrawals beyond this. Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayanand told the BBC, “The total amount of fraud in these 116 cases is yet to come in. We are still investigating.” Inspector General of Stamps and Registration Department Mamta Gowda released the new instructions on the advice of Aadhaar related officials. She said, “If citizens want to use Aadhaar card, they have to use only the last four digits of the number on the card. They can also use other IDs like driving license, PAN card, voter ID card, etc. From now on, only the first digit of the document registered on Kaveri 2.0 Page will appear.”

 

Question mark on security of Aadhaar

Many questions have been raised regarding various aspects of such cases, whether there is adequate security in the database, whether the portal is encrypted on the cloud. Arrested people can only be ‘scapegoats’. There may be a larger mechanism behind them. “As this case is similar to other cases across the country, it deserves to be referred to the CBI,” said Shashidhar CN, cyber security expert at Security Advisory Services.

 

Emphasis on the basis of private dealers:

This does not mean that only cases relating to government departments or agencies have come to light. Pranjal R. of ‘Strategy India’, a direct selling consultancy based in Mumbai. According to Daniel, there are over 600 facilities in the country that use the direct sales model to promote their products and services. These facilities have to comply with regulations like Information Technology Act 2000, Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, Consumer Protection (Direct Selling) Rules 2021 and Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules 2020. In such cases they need to store sensitive and important data on servers in India. Despite this, many direct selling companies still store personal data of their direct sellers and customers on servers outside India. This data is collected when customers register and place an order. He said, “Many fake multilevel marketing schemes advertise themselves as direct selling companies, collect and sell sensitive data using cryptocurrency to extort money from investors. More than 20 such scams are perpetrated in our country every week.” “Our team works hard every week to identify and analyse fraudulent ‘MLM’ scams. We include them in our Scam Alert List. This is all to alert people to scams when they invest their time, money, energy and goodness. Currently our There is a list of more than 4,000 such ‘MLM’ scams on the website,” he said. People should use their Aadhaar option for KYC in MLM scams, says Pranjal.

Lock and unlock Aadhaar

“Aadhaar card has become the easiest way to identify oneself, but people are not aware of its security measures,” said Dinesh Bareja, head of the Mumbai-based Open Liability Alliance. You can block the card after using it. You can unlock it whenever you need. This is similar to setting transaction limits for your credit card or debit card. Prevention is in your hands.

“I don’t know why money is not spent on creating awareness among people,” he says.

“Aadhaar has the facility of locking and unlocking. But this is such a big website that people don’t know exactly where this facility is located. The beginning of any type of theft is when you click on something intentionally or unintentionally. After this you are criminally assaulted. It’s like a thief has entered your house. He inspects the house for some time before stealing.”

What to do and what not to do?

• Let’s learn the do’s and don’ts based on our interactions with cyber experts, consultants and the police.
• It is not mandatory to use Aadhaar card number in documents. In fact, the law mandates that Aadhaar be used only in certain circumstances.
• Other identification documents like driving license, PAN card, voter ID card or ration card should be used for opening bank account, getting mobile connection, school admission and giving information to private companies.
• Do not write full Aadhaar number if any document is being made public. Use only the last four digits of your Aadhaar card number.
• You can also send an SMS to 1947 with the last four digits of your Aadhaar card. Thus a virtual ID number will be obtained for temporary use.
• Aadhaar card can be locked after use. The facility to lock or unlock the card is available on the website of ‘UIDAI’.
• Government agencies/organizations should not allow visible fingerprints. Fingerprints on documents should be indistinct.
• If copies of documents are being taken and thumb impression is being taken, it should be erased so that no one can duplicate it.
• Do not use Aadhaar number, fingerprints and name on the same document.
• Set limits for all transactions on your bank account, credit card, debit card. Disable it only when you use it.
• If you are a victim of cyber fraud, contact the Cyber Fraud National Helpline number 1930 immediately. The police will trace the account to which the money was transferred and try to recover the amount. Getting money back is part of luck.

Theft of Aadhaar data

 

• A recent report said that the Aadhaar data of 81.5 crore Indians has been stolen. This data has been put on the ‘dark net’.
• UIDAI has not responded to any of our queries on these reports.
• This news will be updated after the response from UIDAI.