Hyderabad: Mobile phone apps that generate a display of fake Aadhaar cards is turning out to be a point of worry for the police. Youngsters were caught showing the fake Aadhaar ‘cards’ on their mobile phones to gain entry into pubs and bars.
Several online mobile applications offer instant ‘Aadhaar card’ by filling up basic details like Aadhaar card number, name of the person and age and the picture. Quite a few of them, interestingly, have got high ratings.
Minors show the ‘card’ on the mobile phone to gain entry. “The underaged youth are creating Aadhaar card images using the app and gaining access to restricted areas,” a police officer said.
The police said owners of pubs and other establishments with restrictions on entry of minors are generally lax.
“Seldom do the managements examine the card and tally it with other identity documents. In a few cases, they will just note down the Aadhaar card number in a register and allow them to enter,” said an Prohibition and Excise official.
In recent past, there have been several instances when minor drivers under the influence of alcohol had caused accidents on city roads or created nuisance at thoroughfares.
A police official said that if any person is caught with a fake Aadhaar card is liable for arrest under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including cheating and preparing forged documents amongst others.
Aadhaar aids cops fight cyber crime
Linking the Aadhaar card with bank accounts and taking the biometrics of account holders is helping curb cyber crime, said police officials. It will help bring down bank related frauds if there no discrepancies in the linkages.
“In the long run it will be very helpful to curb unverified accounts opened by conmen to dupe people,” said Hyderabad cyber crime inspector K.V.M. Prasad.
Currently, the police finds it difficult to track down the persons who dupe people with a variety of schemes and persuade them to deposit money in their accounts.
“People are submitting forged Aadhaar card and other identity proofs and submitting it along with cheques to obtain electronic items. Later, they are duping the companies,” said another cyber crime official.
At least two companies have lodged complaints with the city cyber crime in last three months about the scam. “It is basically a cheating case. The conmen are editing the Aadhaar card details and changing the residential address and phone numbers before obtaining the electronic gadgets cases,” said an officials.
Banks, according the cyber crime officials, are liberally opening accounts without verifying the antecedents of the applicants. “Basic inquiries are not being done. The staff does not call up the applicant over phone to find out if the mobile phone number is genuine nor do they send a verification team to check the residential address,” another official said.
“Investigation into previous cases revealed that people are opening up to 100 bank accounts. In the recently busted Aasara pension fraud, the gang had opened up to several bank accounts,” Hyderabad CCS inspector P. Ravi Kiran said.
