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Goon caught with 2,000 stolen fingerprints in Hyderabad, cops flag ID thefts | Hyderabad News
HYDERABAD: Technology-savvy crooks are no longer lurking to steal just your money. They also want to steal your identity, become you, open fake bank accounts and engineer more frauds.
Senior police officers in Hyderabad were left stunned last month when they caught a man with around 2,000 fingerprints of separate individuals with which he was making fake identities to be used by fraudsters. He had acquired the fingerprints from another goon for a price.
Cybercrime police officers say this is just one individual caught. There could be many more on the prowl looking to steal your digital identity and ask citizens to be extra vigilant while sharing personal data.
Talking on the latest cybercrime trends at an event – Cyber Safety and National Security – organised at the Indian School of Business, Cyberabad DCP Kalmeshwar Shingenavar explained that besides the fingerprints, they have come across many cases where mobile numbers, financial and social media accounts were being created using stolen personal details of people.
The man with the 2,000 fingerprints was using the stolen biometric details to purchase SIM cards which were used to commit KYC and OTP frauds on gullible victims. The cops have seized a number of SIM cards from him and frozen several bank accounts which were created using the fingerprints.
Fraudsters using illegal fingerprints
Police said the illegally obtained fingerprints combined with other details are being used by the cyber fraudsters to commit crimes.
“Biometric identity theft can be used for committing more cybercrimes by assuming random people’s identities. It is important not to provide biometric thumbprints or iris data to anyone as there is a Supreme Court order stating that biometric authentication even for Aadhaar should not be mandatory,” Kalmeshwar said.
The DCP advised that it is important not to compromise biometric data for buying a SIM or other services. He briefed about other forms of identity theft such as identity cloning where the persons’ biometrics can be used to create a identity by acquiring a fake Aadhar, PAN etc. Apparently, this isn’t the first time cops came across biometric identity theft cases in the city.
Senior police officers in Hyderabad were left stunned last month when they caught a man with around 2,000 fingerprints of separate individuals with which he was making fake identities to be used by fraudsters. He had acquired the fingerprints from another goon for a price.
Cybercrime police officers say this is just one individual caught. There could be many more on the prowl looking to steal your digital identity and ask citizens to be extra vigilant while sharing personal data.
Talking on the latest cybercrime trends at an event – Cyber Safety and National Security – organised at the Indian School of Business, Cyberabad DCP Kalmeshwar Shingenavar explained that besides the fingerprints, they have come across many cases where mobile numbers, financial and social media accounts were being created using stolen personal details of people.
The man with the 2,000 fingerprints was using the stolen biometric details to purchase SIM cards which were used to commit KYC and OTP frauds on gullible victims. The cops have seized a number of SIM cards from him and frozen several bank accounts which were created using the fingerprints.
Fraudsters using illegal fingerprints
Police said the illegally obtained fingerprints combined with other details are being used by the cyber fraudsters to commit crimes.
“Biometric identity theft can be used for committing more cybercrimes by assuming random people’s identities. It is important not to provide biometric thumbprints or iris data to anyone as there is a Supreme Court order stating that biometric authentication even for Aadhaar should not be mandatory,” Kalmeshwar said.
The DCP advised that it is important not to compromise biometric data for buying a SIM or other services. He briefed about other forms of identity theft such as identity cloning where the persons’ biometrics can be used to create a identity by acquiring a fake Aadhar, PAN etc. Apparently, this isn’t the first time cops came across biometric identity theft cases in the city.
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