Jalandhar resident becomes a victim of identity theft

Tribune News Service

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, June 19

The next time someone asks you to share details of your identity proof or its pictures on WhatsApp for a job, loan or some other purpose, think twice! This could be a well-planned trap, which may land you under debt.

The same has happened with Sumit Khanna (36), a resident of Hargobind Nagar (Dhobri road), whose identity proofs were tampered with by photoshopping another person’s photograph and were used to take six loans worth Rs 4 lakh from three banks and three finance companies.

In conversation with Jalandhar Tribune, Sumit said he received a call from the loan department of ICICI Bank a few days back regarding a two-wheeler loan. He said he informed the bank official that he never availed this loan and there was definitely some misunderstanding, to which the bank officials asked him to visit the branch.

He said when he visited the branch, saw the documents attached with the loan papers, and checked the CCTV footage, he got to know someone has misused his identity proofs and availed the loan in his name.

“The bank officials then suggested me that I should check my CIBIL score and loan history. When I checked the same, I got to know that not just one, rather six such loans have been availed of in my name, which I never applied for,” he added.

Sumit said: “When I inquired about these loans from bank branches and finance companies concerned, I got to know that five two-wheeler loans and one consumer loan of Rs 30,000 had been taken in my name. Then I filed an online complaint to the banks and finance companies informing them about the fraud and requested them to share CCTV footage of the person concerned, who visited them.”

On the basis of the details shared by the bank employees and the groundwork he did, he got to know someone named Rahul was allegedly involved in this. He first opened a savings account in my name by submitting identity proofs that had my name and details but someone else’s photo and then used the same account number to avail other loans, he added.

“I then also realised that I had sent my Aadhaar and PAN card pictures on WhatsApp to my colleague’s friend for job purpose, who further forwarded it to someone in his contact and I doubt that it’s him only who had tampered with my identity proofs,” he added.

He has already filed an FIR against the unidentified person and shared all the details with the police. “The police have assured me that all those involved in the fraud would be arrested soon and my name would be cleared from all this mess,” he added.

Meanwhile, the ACP (Security) has confirmed that a complaint has been received and the investigation is underway to trace the accused.

Never share your identity proofs with unknown people

A cyber official said one should be very careful while using mobile phones and laptops for online banking and also while submitting personal details online. “People should never share their identity proofs with unknown people. Even if one goes to take out a printout of their identity proof, he must ensure they get it deleted from the shopkeeper’s computer,” he added.

Identity theft cases becoming common in India

A recent cybercrime awareness report has revealed that frauds related to identity thefts are on the rise and one in every three persons in the country has faced identity theft at some point. The report said fraudsters, by tampering with identity proofs of the innocent people, were raising loans in their names. It said the victims, during a routine check of their CIBIL score, get to know that their identities had been used to raise loans and defraud banks.

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