Beware! FASTag May Become Next Big Online Fraud, First Case Reported

The government has made FASTag mandatory to enhance electronic toll collection, but it is turning out to be a big fraud. Tricksters have apparently found a new way to cheat people through this. It seems that it has also become the new tool for online fraud as a person has complained that money is automatically getting deducted from his account. The first such case has been reported near Manesar toll plaza.

A man named Raja Suprabhat Biswas has claimed that he received a message from his bank stating that some amount has been deducted from the HDFC Bank. He was taken by surprise after seeing the message, and initially thought that his car was stolen. However, when checked, he found the car at his home.

The question is how Biswas’s FASTag account credit was debited without the car passing the toll plaza?

“I have complained in writing to an email ID: fasttag.hdfcbank@insolutionsglobal.com but there's no reply from them. HDFC FASTag call centre gave me this email ID and except this, they don’t give a proper answer. I have escalated to the HDFC Bank in Noida and Green Park branches. I am planning to drop this service from the HDFC Bank and escalate it to Nitin Gadkari and the transport ministry to take an overall security concerns issue,” Biswas said.

On February 5, Biswas, whose vehicle number is DL3CBA1194, sent an email to the bank, explaining what happened to him.

“This is to bring to your notice that I received a message yesterday from HDFC Bank as ‘Dear Customer, Your FasTag A/C has been debited for Rs.65 for transaction by vehicle DL3CBA1194 at Toll Manesar Toll Plaza on 2020-02-04 T05.18:00. Balance amount in the A/c is Rs.135 – HDFC Bank Ltd.’ The vehicle number is mine and since the message came to me, am assuming the mobile number registered is also correct. However, Thankfully the vehicle was parked at home only and I didn’t even put the tag on the vehicle due to time constraint. Since I have not used that Toll and the Tag on the said date and time, how come my account got hacked and the money was debited. Wasn’t there any way to atleast cross – check the vehicle number physically while using the Toll bridge ? I would need an immediate action on this incident and bring the culprits to justice. I will also be doing the police complaint after hearing back from you.

P.S : The request for tag was filled online through my office computer and there was a staff from HDFC Bank who had come to our office to help and assist us in getting the tags. He had mentioned his code on the request form as well,” Biswas explained the incident in this email to the bank.

On February 6, he again sent an email to the bank, asking them about the update. However, the bank didn’t respond on both the occasions.

Biswas has sent multiple emails seeking information regarding the incident from the bank in the next few days, but they all went unanswered.