Notices displayed outside the two Sub-Registrar Offices a Mini Vidhana Soudha building in Mangaluru a some days ago asked people to lock their biometrics before going for registering their documents.
The notices read: “In light of complaints registered with (Mangaluru) CEN (Cyber Economic and Narcotic Crime) police station on fraudsters misusing Aaadhaar number and finger prints printed on the registered documents for removing money from bank accounts, we are advising people coming for registration to lock their biometrics.”
The notices in Mangaluru sub-registrar offices also mentioned the procedure to be followed for locking the biometrics. In addition, the Stamps and Registration Department posted on You Tube (https://youtu.be/Jtq6nTtpu5A?si=EPnbTDCuUKbiOIRh ) a video tutorial on “How to block Aadhaar biometric on your phone.”
Three arrested
It is well over a month since Mangaluru police arrested three persons from Bihar in connection with 10 cases registered relating to stealing money from bank accounts of people by misusing Aaadhaar number and fingerprints printed on the documents registered at Sub Registrar offices.
Such cases of new age data theft have been reported from elsewhere in Karnataka and other states as well.
Now, before coming to the offices of Sub-Registrar to complete the registration work, people are seen logging on to the ‘mAadhaar’ app or to myaddhaar.uidai.gov.in for locking their biometrics. Document writers and advocates are seen at the Sub Registrars’ office helping people in blocking their biometrics. “Before people sit to capture their picture and give fingerprint to complete the registration (under the new Kaveri 2 system) process, we ensure they have blocked their biometrics,” said a Sub-Registrar of Mangaluru.
Cases reported
The misuse of Aadhaar number and fingerprints in the registered documents for stealing money was first pointed out by a doctor couple from Bejai in Mangaluru. The two had gone to the Sub Registrar’s office on September 9 for registering their land. Ten days later, ₹ 50,000 each got deducted from the accounts of the husband and the wife respectively between September 11 and September 16. The two filed a complaint with the Mangaluru CEN police station on September 16.
Nine other complaints were registered at the CEN Police Station between October 25 and October 26 wherein complainants reported on losing money ranging between ₹10,000 and ₹99,599 between August 6 and September 19. Mangaluru Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal said a total of 58 complaints have been filed with Mangaluru City police and the total money lost is about ₹ 3.2 lakh between this August and October.
In Udupi, K. Ravishankar, a doctor from Shirva, was the first to register the complaint on October 3 on losing ₹ 10,000 each from his Union Bank of India and Canara Bank accounts respectively on September 30. Four complaints were registered at the Malpe police station on October 31 reporting on the deduction of money ranging between ₹6,000 and ₹28,000 between October 12 and October 24.
Investigation
As interaction with the Registration Department officials did not help in unravelling the way fraudsters accessed Aadhaar and fingerprints from the Kaveri-2 system, the city police took up the laborious task of tracing the money trial.
It took nearly two months for the Mangaluru police to identify Deepak Kumar Hembram, 33; Vivek Kumar Biswas, 24; and Madan Kumar, 23, and arrest them from a place in Bihar, in the last week of October. The three were arrested in connection with 10 cases registered by Mangaluru police. The city police is searching for the main accused, who is said to be the leader of the gang of fraudsters.
More cases in Bengaluru
A couple of days after Mangaluru police arrested three persons, the Bengaluru Northeast Division cybercrime police arrested two persons allegedly involved in AEPS fraud. A total of 116 cases of AEPS fraud have been registered in Bengaluru. Cases of AEPS fraud have been reported from other parts of the State including Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu districts. AEPS fraud cases have been reported from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states too.
A senior police official overseeing investigation into the AEPS fraud cases in Mangaluru said multiple gangs based in Bihar were involved in siphoning money using AEPS enabled devices. “A majority of the members of these gangs are Class 10 pass outs and the way they have exploited loopholes in AEPS is mind-boggling,” the officer said. Those arrested by Mangaluru police have no links with the persons arrested by Bengaluru police, the official added.
Modus operandi
The accused, the official said, have given fake details to register themselves on the Kaveri Online Services website (kaveri.karnataka.gov.in) of Karnataka Stamps and Registration Department. Then they have submitted online application seeking copies of documents by randomly mentioning registration numbers. The copies of these documents are then downloaded.
Culling out documents where the fingerprints are clearly seen, fraudsters took image of the fingerprints on a butter paper. The image is adjusted to the size of thumb. A rubber stamp like tool using silicon material was prepared, which had ridges of the fingerprint. This tool was placed on AEPS-enabled device and was pressed after entering the Aadhaar number. Following match of Aadhaar number and finger print, money to a maximum of ₹10,000 per transaction was withdrawn. A maximum of ₹ 25,000 can be withdrawn per day using AEPS.
In some cases, money has been withdrawn a couple of days after registration, while there are cases where money has been withdrawn a month after registration. Mangaluru police have recovered PDF images of over 1000 registered documents related to Karnataka and over 300 registered documents related to Andhra Pradesh and a few other states.
The police official said the whole process was well organised. While one applied for certified copies, there was another person to take print out and keep apart those documents that had clear fingerprints. There were persons for preparing rubber stamp like tool and withdrawing money.
Meeting with Authority
The senior police official said recently the Mangaluru police had a meeting with officials from Unique Identification Authority of India where loopholes in the AEPS were pointed out.
The police expressed the need for generating OTP for withdrawing money. An alert should be generated and sent to the mobile number of the account holder when money is withdrawn at a far away place than the place where an account holder resides. “In all cases reported in Mangaluru, withdrawals were made at Bihar,” the police official said and added, “Interestingly, the place where the money was withdrawn was about 200 km away from the place the accused was staying.”
Changes made
The fraud has led the Department of Stamps and Registration to bring some changes in the Kaveri-2 system. “We have stopped providing image of all the pages of the registered document. Instead, only image of the first page of the document is being provided to those filing for certified copy application online,” said a senior officer from the Stamps and Registration Department. The document writers have been told to mention in the document to be registered only last four digits of Aadhaar number while writing “X” in place of the first eight digits of the number.
