Gurugram man’s Aadhaar data fraudulently used to withdraw cash

Unidentified suspects were booked for allegedly misusing fingerprints of a Gurugram resident to authenticate his Aadhaar biometrics for withdrawing money from his bank account, police said on Monday.

Police said that it is still not clear how and from where the suspects managed to get the victim’s fingerprints, adding that the victim received six intimations on his registered email address that his Aadhaar was authenticated successfully using finger impression on biometric devices at branches of six government and private banks.

Investigators said the victim received the six emails between 1.45pm and 1.50pm on November 3 last year.

Police said that after the series of emails, the victim Pathuri Kumar (37), a resident of Sushant Lok Phase I, received another email intimating him about the successful authentication of his Aadhaar biometrics using his fingerprints once again at a private bank’s branch at 5.19pm on the same day.

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Investigators said that the authentication time in the evening email and the time of the transaction in which ₹10,000 was withdrawn from Kumar’s account were the same. They said that his account is with the same bank from whose branch money was withdrawn.

Kumar immediately locked his Aadhaar biometrics using a mobile-based application to stop any further misuse, police said.

“Next day, Kumar received two more emails about attempts to authenticate his Aadhaar at a branch of the same bank with which he holds his account. But this time the attempts failed as the biometrics were locked,” a senior police officer said.

The police officer said that it is not yet clear from where the suspects gained access to his fingerprints. “We are investigating the matter to identify the suspects. We have served a notice to the bank to provide the transaction details,” he said.

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The officer added that around three months back, a gang was busted in Palwal, which used to download registered land deeds from websites having fingerprint impressions of sellers, purchasers and witnesses and used the same to withdraw money from their accounts by preparing a copy of the prints for Aadhaar biometric authentication.

Priyanshu Diwan, assistant commissioner of police (cyber crime), said the suspects must have used Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) facility at the bank to withdraw money from the victim’s account. “Things will become clear after further investigations,” he added.

On Kumar’s complaint to the cyber crime wing of the Union home ministry, an FIR was registered under Section 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Cyber Crime police station (East) on December 31, after a thorough inquiry found the allegations to be true, police said.