FASTag adoption in the country is on a rise and scammers have found a creative way to use that wave in their favour. In a first of its kind case, the Delhi Police Crime Branch has reportedly busted a group of scammers that was using the FASTag to steal money from users’ wallets. The police department claims that the scammers have cheated people of Rs 80 lakh in less than 30 days. A member of the gang was cheating people on the pretext of credit card activation and other services by acting as a banking official while the other one was creating a FASTag wallet using the bank details provided by the victim.
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How the FASTag scam happens
A member of the gang calls new credit card users and gets the needful information by posing as a bank officer. After securing the banking details, the other member of the gang creates a FASTag wallet linked to that passive tag. The scammers then add money to the FASTag wallet by using the stolen information and later encash the money out of the e-wallet through the help of certain petrol pump operators.
The scam is quite unique and most of such cases do not come to light as technically the FASTag wallet account and credit card details linked to it are authentic. The scammers can continue to cheat people for years as most of the FASTag linked e-wallets come with an automatic recharge feature that adds a certain amount to the wallet once it is over.
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How to stay safe from FASTag scam
To stay safe from such frauds, you should never share your banking details with anyone, especially the OTP. If you are using e-wallets and FASTag, you should regularly monitor the transactions and immediately contact the concerned authority in case of any irregularity.
