Certain cyber cafes issuing edited appointment slips to gullible computer-illiterate people

Mysuru: Aadhaar Card has become a vital document to determine a person’s identity.

Considering the value of the Card, certain unscrupulous elements are duping the gullible people and are fleecing them while issuing online appointment slips. 

Certain cyber cafes are taking money and providing fake appointment slips to unwary, computer illiterate and rural Aadhaar applicants and charging amounts ranging from Rs. 100 to Rs. 300 and more than 60 such fraud cases have been detected at Aadhaar Seva Kendra, operated by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) at Vijayanagar First Stage. 

The Aadhaar Seva Kendra handles more than 1,000 applications per day and online appointments are issued to avoid extra rush. Villagers, as they are not able to take appointments online, come to the cyber cafes to get their appointments.

While booking the appointment, certain cyber cafes are altering the name of applicants, Aadhaar Number in the appointment slips and cheating the applicants. Names and mobile numbers are edited and slips are given to the applicants. 

According to Col. N.G. Krishna Prasad (retd.), Centre Manager, Aadhaar Seva Kendra, certain cyber cafe operators keep a master copy of the appointment slip and distribute the same slip to every applicant with edited names and phone numbers. Only the date and time details are left unchanged. “These appointment slips do not match the original online data and that is how the fraud came to light. We have already seen more than 60 such cases. Innocent people are taken for a ride by unscrupulous elements,” he said. 

Such altered appointments are rejected at the Aadhaar Seva Kendra as the data do not match and applicants are asked to go back to the cyber cafes where the fake appointment letters are issued. 

“Applicants are reluctant to lodge a complaint against the cyber cafe operators since they appear to be well connected to some influential persons. We appeal to people not to fall prey to such unscrupulous operators. It is recommended that they should take the appointment themselves or ask the cyber cafe operator to book the appointment in their presence,” Krishna Prasad added. 

Along with the fake appointment fraud, one more sort of cheating has come to light where people posing as gazetted officers are signing certain documents for address proof or change of address. “We have discovered that one person on Basaveshwara Road in Agrahara used to sign as ‘Government doctor’ and now the same person is signing as Assistant Development Officer,” he said. Signatures and names are the same while designations differ.  

The Aadhaar Seva Kendra cannot voluntarily complain to the Police as rules do not permit. But the victims must lodge a Police complaint so that fraudsters are booked. According to Aadhaar Act, frauds like these attract a jail term of up to three years. 

Meanwhile, the Aadhaar Seva Kendra has issued/ updated Aadhaar Cards to 13,000 applicants in November 2019, 25,000 in December 2019 and 9,000 till date in January 2020.