Is someone misusing your Financial Documents ?

POSTED BY Jagoinvestor ON October 31, 2011 COMMENTS (76)

Is it a total truth that you are too careful with your documents? Did someone recently asked for your PAN Xerox (extra) copy without any reason and you gave it without thinking much? Do you handover your Driving license or passport copies to some agent without giving it a second thought? If yes, you need to be careful because this can land you in trouble in big way. There has been a lot of cases reported on this blog by your fellow readers which you can learn from. Let me take some of them.

financial documentation

How one relative misused the pan card for taking loan

A lot of people handover their documents to their relatives without thinking much. They feel they are helping the other person, but you never know how the other person can misuse your documents and get you in trouble. Read this case

One of my cousion taken a two wheeler loan in 2005, and i had given my pan card duly self attested at the time of taken loan.
Now i had applied for 2 wheeler loan in 2010, it got rejected upon applied to CIBIL report i came to know that i m the coapplicant of the two wheeler loan taken by my cousion in 2005. But unfortunetly he died in 2010 . So i had made the complete payment including all bouncing charges as well as the principal amount dues on him. But as i am the co-owner as per the bank records my name also reflect as an overdues amount (Defaulter) in your CIBIL Report which is harming my credit Worthiness in the market. I just spoke to the HDFC CUSTOMER CARE DEPT they said your loan is clear and had been reported to CIBIL upon checking again with CIBIL ,now report shows as settled . I had made full payment still its showing settle please help me out what i need to do now Please note that i do not have any direct dealing with the bank in the above said loan i just made a mistake of giving my sign in the reference column for which i have paid a price of making payment of RS 6322 to bank. (source)

How one friend used friends reference to make his co-applicant

Friends are forever, until they take advantage of your trust. A lot of people give their documents to their friends for being a reference (guarantor), but they themselves don’t understand what does guarantor mean? Read this below case to know what happened with one person

One of my friends took a car loan from a nbfc 3 years back and he wanted a reference for this loan (i now realize there is no such thing as a reference for a loan) i obliged and gave him a duplicate copy of my pan card. For atleast 2 years i have been applying for credit cards and getting rejection letters from all the banks. I finally was fed up with this and decided to get my cibil report and was shocked to see that i was the co-applicant for the car loan my friend had taken 3 years back. He had defaulted on this loan which was reflecting on my cibil report and that being the main reason for me not getting any credit card.

Like i mentioned earlier i had given my friend a copy of my pan card but i had never signed any loan application form, so i followed up with my friend (who still claims that i was supposed to a reference for this loan) and also with the customer care at the NBFC (who i must say were extremely rude). I managed to get the loan application form from the NBFC and i’m a cent percent sure that my signature has been forged on the form. Now my friend (would not want to call him a friend anymore) claims that the person who gave him this loan never told him about me being a co-applicant and he always thought i was only a reference. (source)

How an agent used documents of someone to to take advisor license

We call a lot of agents to home to buy financial products ,we give them our financial documents without realising that it can be misused if we dont want to go for the product later , we never ask it back . Read the following case based on this.

It has come to my notice that an advisor license was taken in my name in MetLife, Asansol Branch under Sales Manager by the name Mr. Debrup Banerjee. This person had approached me for a Life Insurance policy and had some papers signed by me. The Policy never materialized, but the papers (EPIC, PAN Card, Photo) was used to take out a License in my name. In fact, I was working in Bihar Sharif when the IRDA Exam was taken. A more serious and criminal act on part of Mr. Debrup Banerjee was to open an account with the Axis Bank in my name using the same papers. SMS alerts from MetLife has brought these misdeeds of Mr. Debrup Banerjee to my notice. I would request you to take necessary steps to declare the Advisor License, taken by Mr. Debrup Banerjee for MetLife, null and void. (source)

Make sure you take care about whom you are handing over your financial documents to. People can misuse it and take advantage which can get you into trouble later and you will come to know about it only when things are out of control.

76 replies on this article “Is someone misusing your Financial Documents ?”

  1. NileshMehta says:

    I did this mistake of allowing someone come home and collect docs and photo to buy a sim card. I am suspicious about their intention now as i have not yet got any call nor my sim activated. Please help where to complain and what to do?

    1. Complain to Police .. whereelse !

  2. sathish says:

    Hello Sir
    As im facing this type of problem now. As my friend suggested for a low interest in some private finance bank for my personal loan, So i approached for that,Then a guy called me & given the details about the loan then i told OK i ll apply.
    Then he came & collected my document like pan card,DL, Adhara card,salary slip,3 months bank pass book,rental agreement,1 photo of my, my office ID,& 2600/-.. The document all given in xerox without my signature. This happen on 20/5/16 .

    But till now no response from him, Now i come 2 know in my mind that i got misuse.
    Sooooooooooo pls tell me how could i come out from this problem

    1. Definately its misused. There has to be a sign on the documents, otherwise how will you get a loan ?

      Manish

  3. Darshana says:

    I have rented a house and my owner is asking for self attested photocopy of my pan card as he need to submit it as a residential proof for his loan. Please suggest what should I do?

    1. Why does he need your PAN for his loan ?

  4. KumaarS says:

    I took a consumer loan from bajaj finserve to purchase a TV and cleared it promptly within a year. I was rejected for a car loan, to check the reason I took CIBIL and found my points were only 615 which was 720 last year. I found someone had taken a consumer loan in my name from Capital first giving wrong address and phone number and after 1.5 yr Capital first people calling me to clear the loan which is overdue. But I never took this loan, I was aware only when i got the CIBIL REPORT.
    What to do with this fraud happened in my name. Pls suggest and guide me.
    Thankyou
    Kumaar S

    1. Check with the Capital first on this and ask them how they sanctioned the loan ?

      1. KumaarS says:

        Sir, I met Capital first team and enquired about this, they are asking me to do a police complaint on the Home appliance show room where this fraud had happened and after police enquiry and investigation they would close this loan.
        What you suggest me to do sir?. shall I lodge a complaint or shall I approach the court and file a case against Capital first or TV showroom.

        1. Yes, you will have to do what they are suggesting !

  5. prakash says:

    Hi Manish
    ration card office in mumbai has asked for my agreement copy as a proof to make change in my residential address in ration card. is it not dangerous to submit the zerox also as it can be misused. is there any other way

    1. I dont think you should think like that. If you consider it risky, then giving xerox anywhere is going to be risky

  6. Leena says:

    hi,

    there is a fraud done by one of the Vodafone executive when i call on the toll free number 199. She had given me the mail id to submit my documents for change of my number. I forwarded my documents on mail id it was my mistake that it was send by be on the personal mail id instead of there corporate id. now they are using my documents and issuing various sims on behalf of my documents. I had went to police station for this complaint but they have not accepted the same and asked to check with the vodafone people. I had went and requested to close the extra numbers which where allotted to me. I had already registered complaint against this fraud but i dont think any action is being taken by vodafone. What should I do? Can the person use my documents for any other purposes? pls suggest.

    1. Its totally unacceptable, and you should complain to consumer court on this issue

  7. lalit says:

    Dear Sir,

    Yesterday, i received a call from LIC she is inform me you have a undeclared lic amount, I have given a details of pan car and driving license D.O.B and adress. after that i found that call from this guys has fraud.

    they can misusse my detals

    plz guide me

    lalit

    1. Yes, they can misuse it

      1. Ismail says:

        Dear Manish,

        I too got such call and they asked me for DOB and address, how it can be misused, can you please explain. Can it be big problem if someone by mistake given such information to unknown person over phone.

        1. Yes it can be misused ..

  8. sandy says:

    i sent the picture of pan card by whts app for taking a approval now i am worried about of miss use of my pan card

    1. You cant do much now !

  9. viji says:

    My Friend has given Voter ID xerox,passport size photo, Bank account book xerox and Ration Card Xerox to a forgery person named as Election deputy authority. But after enquiry there was nobody in the name. What step we want to take to avoid forgery by using my friend documents.

    1. Now you cant do much , The person has already take it now

  10. sandy says:

    I senD by mail my uid scan copy, photo scan copy birth certificate, scan signature on white paper, scaned resume to online job placment. It will be any chances to misuse my identity?
    If yes please guide to stop the same

    1. It might be .. who knows !

    2. jeetu says:

      Hi manish,

      My uncle has taken my ration card and last 10 years electricity Bill 1 month ago for making new license badge No.
      his name is also mentioned in ration card but My father is honour of this home & only my femily is living in this house , but Now uncle is saying that he lost all the documents, is there any misuse can be happen? What should I do, please suggest.

  11. Annapurna says:

    I have by mistake provided my name, dob and PAN number to a fraud call. How do I make sure that its not mis used

    1. I think a lot of time is passed now .. cant do much

      1. annapurna says:

        oh! does that mean my details could have been used for their benefit?
        if so, how do I know it? thank you so much for taking time to reply.appreciate it!

        1. Yes it can happen, but the chances are very very low . Check your CIBIL report after few months and make sure everything is fine there .

          Manish

  12. Anita says:

    I am renting a house and my owner has taken my PAN card no and other details . he is insisting me to give xerox of that along with other ID proof like voter Id . What needs to be done
    please suggest me at the earliest
    Anita

    1. Thats fine .. Just make sure when you give xerox, you mention that its for House renting verification documents .

      Manish

  13. naveen ponnam says:

    Hi, Mr. Manish…………..

    What about the online Mutual Fund websites?

  14. Maninder Singh says:

    Hi,

    I recently sent my driving,PAN,company card & self photo all xeroxed to an unknown guy.i found he raised a new number from my name in a communicaton company.How he can further mis use.what should i do to prevent myself which I have already done?Please advice.

    1. First file a case against him

  15. krishnan says:

    Hi Manish, I’m writing on behalf of my friend. he has accidentally given his name address ph no (landline & mobile) DOB Pan No. in some form that he got during shopping in some retail mall. He is worried whether it will be mis-used. Also is there any forum where you can register a complaint anticipating foul play? Kindly advice.

    1. There is nothing like that, if he has just given the info, thats limited risk , ask him never to give any document . For now , let it pass .

      1. krishnan says:

        Hi Manish thanks!!! You are a pro….

        1. You are a wise man 🙂

  16. Mukesh says:

    Manish,

    I recently got an email from nsdl.co.in on one of my email ids that a PAN card has been issued on my name. But I already have a PAN card.
    Also, few days ago, I received a phone call, saying that I had a loan in my name and the installments were pending and they asked for some personal details. But I never took a loan.

    So, I suspect that this may be case of fraud/Identity theft (Someone got a PAN card issued on my name and may try to open fraud bank accounts/loans/credit cards).

    Please advise, what I can do and to whom can I report this matter of duplicate PAN.

    Thanks,
    Mukesh

    1. Mukesh

      Did you leave your PAN xerox with someone without checking his credentials , yes there are chances of misuse and now you should check with the bank and ask them about the photo , signature etc used for opening the account etc . This can now take a long time to resolve . There is no immediate remedy for this

      Manish

  17. vinay says:

    hi,
    i got to send a copy my identity proof (i.e. PAN card) to a person in UK who is a stranger to me and never met and dont know anything about him.

    so now, is there any chance he can misuse my PAN number or my proof?
    Please let me know so that i can go forward and send it to him.

    thanks in advance,
    vinay.

    1. Yes, it can be misused, why do you think it cant be misused ! .. WHy are you sending it to him ? You can do one thing that you can write the purpose of the xerox !

      1. vinay says:

        hey thanks buddy!!!!!!!!!!
        i got to know the ways of misusing someone’s identity…..
        and i did not send him……….. it’s a fraud……………..
        thanks again.

  18. Dalvi says:

    Point….I guess all I do is pray for the best…and be cautious next time…anyways thank you..

  19. Dalvi says:

    My question is if I was asked to be one of my relatives guarantor for a car loan..for which I had submitted my pancard xerox,it return copy and driving licence copy…with it i had signed a bank guarantor form…for some reason the loan process it not happen and. My relative did not take the loan…she retired all by doc back to me immediately..but the bank form which signed was not returned…I needed to know if that form can be misused by anyone?? The bank says they tore it ..but just wanted to know if the bank or anyone can miss used it..

    1. Hmm.. truely speaking there is always a small chance of getting it misused, if you see CRIME PETROL episode on Sony TV , you will notice how some one PAN was picked up from roadside stall and misused , how some internal bank person misused it for his/her own purpose. But thats very mild chance of 1 out of a 100000 . So in reality I would say dont worry too much about it . But form next time , make sure you write the purpose of each and every document whenever you give it anywhere.

      One more point , as the bank must have done an enquiry for your CIBIL score, one more addition must be there in “ENQUIRY” section now

      1. Dalvi says:

        You mean to say that even without my pan xerox and all other xerox…the bank guarantor form be misused???

        1. No No , i am not saying that.. just I am saying that keep caution from next time, you never know how a person can misuse your form , what if a person makes an id with you name and take a loan using that form which you had given ? Just a thought !

  20. Anonymous says:

    Can MF online platforms misuse our financial documents?

    1. Why not , but do you think they will do it considering the future impact of it ?

      1. Anonymous says:

        Now, Moneysights have closed their operations, what if they misuse our financial documents submitted to them as proofs?
        For them now there is no future impact…

        1. Why will a company wait for closing if they want to mis-use the documents , they can do it anytime, I can not advocate on behalf on any company, but as they were into online mutual funds investing, they needed those documents for KYC purpose , just like any agents asks it from you .

          Manish

  21. Prasanna says:

    Can we have a personal CIBIL score requested every 6 months or a defined period or having too many requests on the CIBIL score (including the self) will also reflect poorly, Can you please share some light on it?

    regards,
    Prasanna

    1. Prasanna

      No , making requests for CIBIL score does not impact negatively, you can do it any number of times . In CIBIL there is no yearly requests where you get it on periodic basis , but with Equifax score you can have 4 times in a year for a fee of 1200 .

      Manish

  22. vinod says:

    Please let me know the solution
    If i had signed on behalf of my co. & the blank letterhead is given to my co consultant, after resignation of mine if he misuses the same, then what shoul i do, is there any way out for me.

    1. Vinod

      I think thats very dangerous thing to do .. what written on that blank document will become TRUE

      Manish

  23. sudhakaran says:

    how can I prevent the misuse of my documents. please advice.

  24. sudhakaran says:

    how can I prent the misuse of my documents.

  25. sudhakaran says:

    I have also handed over copy of PAN, Ration card & photo to a person who had approached me as a broker for peronal loan. Though I have handed over the documents, but meanwhile there seems to be no response from the broker’s end. He suddendly seems to have vanished. What should I do in case he is unwilling to hand me over these documents?

    1. Sudhakaran

      I dont think you can rewind this , I mean you cant do anything in this case

      Manish

      1. sudhakaran says:

        Thanks, Manish. But can he misuse these documents?

  26. Prashant Gautam says:

    Agreed. It happened to me. I had given my document xerox to Airtel Sales executive, mentioning the reason on docs, to get corporate postpaid mobile connection. But my number was not activated.
    So, i complained to TRAI and Airtel headoffice even though i mentioned purpose on docs. Within a month that sales executive was running after me as his boss warned him that he’ll lose his job if not returned my docs. I got a letter in-written from him & Airtel that non of the documents was & will be misused, if so then, Airtel will be responsible.
    “Even after mentioning purpose on docs, that can be used for the same purpose to serve someone else”. So, keep track of documents.

    🙂

    1. Prashant

      Thanks for that update , I thought mentioning the purpose on doc will help

      Manish

  27. Arnab says:

    I have also handed over and PAN copy and Salary details to a person who had approached me as a broker for vehicle loan. Though I have handed over the documents, but meanwhile there seems to be no response from the broker’s end. He suddendly seems to have vanished in thin air.What should I do in case he is unwilling to hand me over these documents?

    ~Arnab

  28. Shobha says:

    Hi Kunal,

    Great advise.

    Thanks
    shobha

  29. Jayaprakash Kanreddy says:

    Excellent kunal, I think any institution which is taking that document should have concern if it is submitted for some other reason other than specified on that.

  30. Dharmesh says:

    This seems to be a good idea Kunal… If the bank / nbfc does not have any problem accepting such docs.

    1. VIGNESH says:

      @kunal

      I ll also follow this … thanks

  31. Madhu says:

    Kunal, This is good, is this an accepted procedure? I am also skeptical handing over doccuments but there is no escape, we are all just lucky not taken for a ride yet:)

    1. Kunal says:

      Well, atleast whenever I gave documents, they accepted it without any concern.

      1. Kunal says:

        For me, this is normal procedure. I don’t submit any document without writing the purpose of document

        1. Madhu says:

          Thanks for the quick response Kunal.. I will start doing this from next time….

        2. ABsolutely right Kunal. Thats what I do. I write such text as close as possible to my PAN copy and sign away from the text so it is generally difficult to misuse as a self attestation is also needed. It wont be a big deal to paste a white paper and make a copy but most likely such an act deters people from attempting to misuse.

  32. Kunal says:

    One of the way to get rid of such problem is to state the purpose of document in the xerox copy itself. (It may not be full-proof solution, it helps though)

    For example, If I submit any document for getting Broadband connection, I put the following statement in the document (clearly crossmarked on the document so that it should be difficult to remove) as “Submitting for the purpose of requesting Broadband connection from the #ServiceProviderName# on 31st’ Oct 2011” .

    1. Kunal

      Its a great idea actually .. so simple to think and implement , but no one does like that .. i liked it .. Thanks for sharing this .

      Manish

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