Hyderabad turns hub for voter-PAN fraud

The city has turned into a hub for churning out multiple voter ID cards and PAN cards with fake addresses and names. This was unearthed during investigations by Hyderabad cyber crime police into role of mules in Nigerian fraud cases. Mules are people who offer bank account numbers to channel tainted money. It was found that the mules use multiple original PAN cards issued by the IT department and voter cards issued by Election Commission of India to open various bank accounts.

For instance, two accused against whom Preventive Detention Act was invoked by Hyderabad police commissioner M Mahender Reddy were in possession of multiple ID cards with the same photo, but different names. Even anti-trafficking experts say that Bangladeshis illegally entering the country are coming to Hyderabad to gain access to quick documentation, gain legality and then move on to other places.

“This is an organised gang that first gains multiple voter ID cards by filing online applications using fake addresses and fake name, but with the same photograph. After ECI issues the voter cards, they used them to get PAN cards, using which they open bank accounts. Now, IT department is insisting on Aadhar linkage with PAN card, but this was not the case till recently,” cyber crime inspector, A Ravi Kiran, told to media.