Cyber criminals use MS Dhoni, Madhuri Dixit, Alia Bhatt's PAN details for credit card fraud, 5 arrested
The PAN card of Abhishek Bachchan had his PAN and date of birth but a picture of one of the accused. They forged their Aadhaar details in similar fashion. After getting this information, they applied for credit cards.
FollowA group of fraudsters allegedly procured PAN details of several Bollywood actors and cricketers from their GST Identification Numbers which are available online, and got credit cards issued in their names from Pune-based fintech startup 'One Card'.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Shahadra Rohit Meena said that some of the celebrities whose names and details were used by the fraudsters are Abhishek Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty, Madhuri Dixit, Emraan Hashmi and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
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"Since investigation into the matter is underway, we cannot comment further on it," Meena told the news agency.
The company got wind of the fraud subsequently but not before the fraudsters used some of these cards to purchase products worth Rs 21.32 lakh.
It immediately alerted the Delhi Police which swung into action and arrested five of them. The five accused, identified as Puneet, Mohd Asif, Sunil Kumar, Pankaj Mishar and Vishwa Bhaskar Sharma, acted in close coordination to defraud the company in a very unusual manner.
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"After arrest, when they were interrogated, they disclosed their unique modus operandi. They used to get GST details of these celebrities from Google. They were very well aware that the first two digits of GSTIN are state code and the next 10 digits are PAN number," one of the sources said.
"Since the celebrities date of birth are available on Google, these two -- PAN and date of birth -- complete the PAN details. They got the PAN cards remade fraudulently putting their own pictures on it so that during video verification, their looks match with the photo available on PAN/Aadhaar card," the sources added.
For instance, the PAN card of Abhishek Bachchan had his PAN and date of birth but a picture of one of the accused. They forged their Aadhaar details in similar fashion. After getting this information, they applied for credit cards.
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During video verification, they were asked questions related to their financial activities which they answered easily as they had got all such details from CIBIL.
The Pune-based FPL Technologies Private Limited issues "One Card" which is a contactless metal credit card along with a virtual rendition of the same in the One Card and One Score App "so that the customer can use it for any online or app-based transactions or purchases," the company said in its complaint to the police.
The company further alleged that these fraudsters approached the company through their app by uploading the details such as PAN and Aadhaar number to get credit cards issued in their names.
(With inputs from PTI)
