Think twice before using fingerprint impressions for any financial transaction. You may end up losing your bank savings. Police have busted a cyber fraud wherein two persons used fingerprint impressions to withdraw money from victims’ bank accounts.
The duo managed to gather fingerprints of nearly 1,000 persons in Dahod and used a few to siphon money from their accounts. “Not many know they can withdraw money from their bank account using their fingerprints and identity card without OTP authentication. The duo took advantage of the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System to defraud some people and withdrew money from their bank accounts,” said B N Patel, police inspector, cybercrime.
The accused, Sanjiv Baria, a BTech student and Satish Bhabhor, both residents of Dahod, were arrested by the cybercrime sleuths. Bhabhor runs a fair-price shop in Garbada taluka of Dahod and had thousands of fingerprints of locals who used them to get their monthly grocery supply. “Bhabhor knew that money could be withdrawn from the bank account using AEPS. So, he took the help of Baria who is studying B-Tech in Gandhinagar. Baria came up with a trick to clone fingerprint impressions of the victims and use them to withdraw money from their bank accounts,” Patel told TOI.
Accused registered as a merchant
One of the key accused in the cyber-fraud registered himself as a merchant to facilitate availability of cash to the villagers in Dahod. The police said he stored the data including, Aadhaar card details and fingerprints of the locals, for a few months and then decided to execute the scam.
— source timesofindia.indiatimes.com | Tushar Tere | Mar 21, 2023