BENGALURU: At a time when hordes of people are rushing to banks for new currency notes after the Centre demonetised old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, there could be some people misusing your ID proofs.
Such incidents were reported in Bengaluru where people who had been to banks were forced to return empty-handed as somebody had already used their identity proof to exchange cash.
Anna Isaac went to the Axis Bank branch on 80 Feet Road in Indiranagar on Saturday hoping to exchange Rs 3,500. She was asked for her PAN card and mobile number. To her shock, as soon as she provided her phone number, the bank officials told her that somebody had already used her PAN card to exchange Rs 4,000 the previous day.
“I was horrified and checked if my details were being misused. However, I did not get any satisfactory response. How can somebody use my PAN card and phone number to exchange cash without my notice?” she asked.
On reaching home, she checked with her parents if they had used her phone number to exchange money. They had not. “I am afraid that my other details are also being misused,” she said.
There were also reports of IDs being sold in photocopying shops. When contacted, an official from a leading bank said that though such incidents have come to their notice, it is hard to regulate them. “Some come posing as relatives of old women or disabled people. We have no means of verifying their motives,” he said.
Two days ago, there were reports of Aadhaar numbers being misused to exchange notes.
Regarding the PAN card incident, State Level Bankers’ Committee convener M Mohan Reddy said that it might be a one-off incident.
“We collect the necessary details of every person who deposits money in the banks, using our in-built system. It will verify all the details of a customer,” he said. He added that the banks would look into the issue of PAN card misuse.