LUCKNOW: In a rare case of fraud, unidentified swindlers withdrew Rs 30,000 from the bank account of a man using Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS).
The victim, Ajay Kumar Srivastava, a resident of Virat Khand, Gomti Nagar, said he has an account in the Vinay Khand branch of a public sector bank.
“The miscreants withdrew Rs 10,000 on March 19, Rs 10,000 on May 8 and another Rs 10,000 on May 9 from my account. In the last two instances, the money was transferred on second Saturday and Sunday, both bank holidays,” Srivastava said in his complaint to police.
When he contacted the bank about the transaction, bank officials told him the money was transferred using the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System.
Police lodged an FIR on his complaint and investigation of the case of fraud and IT Act has been handed to SHO Gomti Nagar Keshav Kumar Tiwari.
Superintendent of police, UP Cyber Cell, Triveni Singh said, “It is a typical fraud case in which money was withdrawn from account through AEPS by cloning finger prints. The physical presence of Aadhaar card holder is must for fingerprint matching for these transactions.” Fraudsters download Aadhaar card and access digital fingerprints. Then they use thermal scanner, butter paper, mirror, thinner gel, glue and image booster chemicals to create thumb impressions on rubber, Singh added.
“They put these cloned fingerprints on scanners of biometric machines attached with National Payment Corporation Of India (NPCI) and UIDAI which authenticate the fingerprints and and money is withdrawn or transferred from the bank account,” the SP said.
As per RBI guidelines, Rs 10,000 can be withdrawn per day through AEPS, said the officer, adding investigation is under way and the fraudsters will be nailed soon.