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The two men – Rishi Raj Singh of Saron in Prayagraj and Rohit Kumar of Mau – were arrested on May 2 for being alleged members of an interstate gang of cybercriminals. Police recovered 194 thumbprints from them. (News18 photos)
What came as a real shock to Bhadohi Police was the fact that the arrested duo learned thumb cloning from videos available on YouTube. Police said there are thousands of channels offering step-by-step tutorials for cloning fingerprints
Beware of scammers while giving your thumbprints for online or offline purchases. Cybercriminals can steal your thumb impressions to steal money through the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) by cloning your fingerprints.
Uttar Pradesh Police, in coordination with the Cyber Cells Department, has busted an interstate cyber crime syndicate from Bhadohi district and recovered 194 ‘thumb clones’ from their possession.
the case
With it being one of the most sensational cases of cybercrime, the investigating officers said they never thought it was just the tip of the iceberg. “One case was registered by Mishrilal Kumar, a resident of Hridipati village in Bhadohi district, while another case was filed by Bindu Singh, a resident of Kirtipur village in Bhadohi district,” said Rajesh Bharti, Additional Superintendent of Police.
Bharti said further investigation revealed that in both cases, fake fingerprints were allegedly used to withdraw the money.
194 thumb impressions were recovered
The two men – Rishi Raj Singh of Saron in Prayagraj and Rohit Kumar of Mau – were arrested on May 2 for being alleged members of an interstate gang of cybercriminals. Police recovered a total of 194 thumb prints from them, marked with Aadhaar number, bank account number and name. Machinery and equipment used to make a fingerprint cloning machine, a printer machine, a laptop computer, two biometric devices with an OTG (on-the-go) adapter, five MOPS (multi-option payment system), 5 ATM cards, three mobile phones, a polymer and a photo darkener were also recovered from their possession.
Copy thumb impressions onto parchment paper.
Bharti said the duo were found copying thumbprints from bills of sale available on various websites and withdrawing money from bank accounts linked to Aadhaar numbers through point-of-sale (PoS) machines. It has also been shown that scammers have been found withdrawing funds by forging biometric thumb prints and abusing the Aadhaar-powered payment system. Bharti said they copy grease paper thumb impressions from various websites to create duplicate silicone thumbs.
“Learn to Clone Thumbs on YouTube”
What came as a real shock to Bhadohi Police was the fact that the duo learned thumb cloning from videos available on YouTube. Police said there are thousands of channels offering step-by-step tutorials for cloning fingerprints. They also urged the government to ban YouTube channels that promote such content.
More than 6,000 cases of cybercrime have been reported in UP
However, the UP Police hack raised serious concerns about the safety of personal data available on government websites. According to UP police records, more than 6,000 cases of wire fraud have been registered to date in UP. Although there is no proper separation but by a rough estimate, officials said more than 150 cases are related to AEPS. “Cases of AEPS are on the rise. It has been observed that people, especially in rural enclaves, have fallen easy targets to gangs of cyber ‘thugs’, who clone the thumbprints of the target to make withdrawals from their account, using the Aadhaar-supported payment system. There are more From the 100 such cases reported from Uttar Pradesh we often do random checks for ‘Jan Suvidha Kendra;
What do the experts say?
When cases of financial fraud increase, experts chime in on how to keep personal data safe. According to Rakshit Tandon, a cyber security expert, people should turn off the biometrics option from their account by logging into the official UIDAI website, which makes it safe from cyber scams. Tandon further said that people should remain vigilant, especially late at night because these scams are generally active at night. People should ensure that they tell the police immediately if they come across any unauthorized withdrawal in order to reduce reaction time.
MHA writes states to check for fraud
The Home Office also wrote to states and union territories (UTs) recently citing concerns about cybercriminals “misusing” AePS to commit financial fraud. The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Center (I4C) – a contract agency of the MHA to handle matters related to cybercrime – stated that cybercriminals are “cloning” biometric data of Aadhaar users uploaded to the registry websites of countries hosting sales contracts and agreements. This data is “cloned” with the intent of making unauthorized withdrawals through AePS. The agency has asked the state and Utah governments to instruct their departments of revenue and registration to “hide” fingerprints on documents as they are uploaded to registration websites.
In the background of the controversy surrounding the safety of personal data, which began after the Bhadohi Police arrested an interstate gang of cybercriminals, UP Police say further arrests in the case could further aid their investigation and could lead to gangs of a similar nature active in the country. other countries.
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