Ms Dhoni and Mr. Bachchan PAN Card used for Credit Card Fraud

In a bizarre case of cyber fraud, hackers allegedly stole PAN details of various Bollywood celebrities and cricketers using their GST Identity Numbers which are available online, and got credit cards issued in their names from Pune-based fintech firm ‘One Card’.

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.

“Since the inquiry into the matter is ongoing, we cannot comment further on it,” said Shahadra Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Rohit Meena.

The company discovered the fraud later, but not before the fraudsters used some of these cards to buy merchandise worth Rs 21.32 lakh. It immediately ale1ted the Delhi Police which swung into action and arrested five of them.

The five suspects, named as Puneet, Mohd Asif, Sunil Kumar, Pankaj Mishar and Vishwa Bhaskar Sharma, engaged in close coordination to swindle the company in a very unorthodox manner, Delhi Police sources said.

“When they were interrogated after their arrest, they revealed their distinct method of operation. They used to collect these celebs GST details through Google. They were well aware that the first two digits of GSTIN represent the state code and the next 10 digits represent the PAN number “, according to one of the sources.

The source went on to say, “Since celebrities’ dates of birth are available on Google, these two – PAN and date of birth – complete the PAN details. They had their PAN cards recreated fraudulently, with their own images on them, so that when they went through video verification, their appearance matched the photo on their PAN/Aadhaar card.”

For example, Abhishek Bachchan’s PAN card included not only his PAN and birth date, but also a photograph of one of the accused. They falsified their Aadhaar details in the same way. They applied for credit cards once they had this information. During video verification, they were asked questions about their financial activity, which they simply answered because they had all such information from CIBIL. According to the insider, they were aware that these celebrities may have strong CIBIL scores, which would improve their chances of receiving credit cards.

“They were also aware that the internet authentication system could not recognise Abhishek Bachchan as a film star. Hence the photo of accused Pankaj Mishra with Abhishek Bachchan’s PAN and Aadhaar details was effective in getting a card issued ” He went on to say.

Additional research is underway, and it is suspected that they used a similar method to obtain credit cards from other banks and financial organisations.

Police sources also informed that they did online research for several months to find ways to use loopholes in the online verification and issuance of credit cards.

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 fu1ther 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.