A warning has been issued over fraudulent calls in which cyber crooks ask people to share Aadhaar card details over the phone to link it with their bank account.

Police claim online criminals have come up with new trick to dupe bank account holders by trapping them on the pretext of linking their Aadhaar PAN card with their bank account as per the directive of the central government.

According to the police, they have recently received several complaints whereby people were tricked by fraudsters by seeking details of their Aadhaar card through phone calls and emails.

A Noida-based engineer who became a victim of pan-India fraud told Mail Today that last week he lost Rs 20,000 after he received a call from a landline number which showed up in the Truecaller app - used for identifying unknown calls - as 'bank'.

'The caller identified as bank executives and spoke in fluent English. He said that bank has decided to link Aadhaar number with debit card for better customer service. He also read central government's rule in this context. For this he asked my Aadhaar number and other details,' said the victim, requesting anonymity.

He explained that caller had most of his banking details so he could not sense any foul play and hence, trusted the caller. 

'The caller said that I would receive a message having one-time password (OTP) which will link the bank account with Aadhaar. As soon I shared the message, the money was debited from my account,' victim said. 

According to the cops, scamsters are misusing government's recent move. 

'To gain the victims' trust, fraudsters tell the common 12-digit code on the debit card, which will be unique to  each bank, and then ask him to disclose the remaining four digits, unique to each customer. 

Along with the last four digits, they secure the card verification value (CVV) number,' said UP STF's additional superintendent Triveni Singh. 

Singh explained that there are several people who are unaware of such scam and are sharing their details as the Centre had instructed the public to link the Aadhaar card with PAN. According to the security agencies, there are several gangs working across India who are cashing on government's initiative to dupe people. 

'Cyber criminals are getting innovative with each crime and as soon government floats a policy they start misusing it. It is high time for people to stay safe in the virtual work by securing their details. Fraudsters will continue to target those who remain ignorant. This can be avoided only through awareness programmes,' Singh said. 

Senior official with Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which issues Aadhaar cards, said, 'people should ignore such calls asking for Aadhaar details, no genuine party would ask for validcc zimbabwe these details over the phone. 

Only official and verified websites should be used for linking Aadhaar, otherwise citizens are urged to go to bank branches and telephone companies' retail outlets to get any sort of seeding or linking done', officials at UIDAI said.