The city police have written to the state finance department to mask fingerprints and Aadhaar numbers on the scanned copies of deeds and property documents that have been uploaded on government websites, a move aimed at preventing Aadhaar-linked fraud.
Police said fraudsters collect fingerprints and Aadhaar numbers by downloading documents from the websites and use them to withdraw money from victims’ accounts.
The police said that in the majority of the 66 complaints of Aadhaar-related fraud they have received, the victims’ details had been obtained from their property documents.
Two persons whom Calcutta police have recently arrested in connection with such fraud have reportedly told officers that they had been downloading property documents for Rs 7.5 per page from government websites to create a database of probable victims.
“Communication has been sent by Calcutta police to the finance department for masking the biometrics, fingerprints as well as the Aadhaar numbers of the users available on the deeds of conveyance of property or other documents which are uploaded on the website wbregistration.gov.in and on allied sites, for reducing the risk of pilferage of those data,” said joint commissioner, crime, Calcutta police, Shankha Shubhra Chakrabarty.
Biometric fingerprints and Aadhaar card details are needed while registering a property, transferring the deed title or preparing a gift deed.
“In all property-related matters, personal details, including fingerprints, are mandatory. The hard copies of these documents are scanned and uploaded on government websites, which can be accessed by anyone across the globe,” said an officer in the bank fraud section of Calcutta police.
“The documents can be viewed for free and downloaded at a nominal cost.”
The police said they have requested for immediate masking of the personal details.
An officer said: “The masking will minimise the chances of accessing personal details from property documents. There are voluminous documents in public domain which have made lakhs of people vulnerable to fraud.”
The police have issued an advisory to prevent Aadhaar-related fraud. “The first step is to install the M-Aadhaar app on phone and click the ‘Lock Biometric’ option” to prevent misuse of one’s Aadhaar number,” said an officer.