Man duped of Rs 400 for Aadhar card

A Santacruz resident, who paid Rs 400 to get an Aadhar card appointment online, has filed a police complaint against a fake aadhar agent.

Earlier this week, when Pravin Pinto attempted to register himself for an Aadhar card, the official website failed to open. He then came across an advertisement by Arpit Doshi promising an Aadhar card as well as a passport within a week at a cheaper rate.

When Pinto contacted Doshi, he was told that no appointment slots were available unless he (Pinto) was willing to payu00a0Rs 400. Doshi sent him an appointment receipt dated February 19 between 4pm and 5pm and asked Pinto to meet one Jay Kashyap.

"Once I received the appointment receipt, I made an online payment to Doshi's bank account. But when I reached the aadhar centre at Andheri Industrial Estate Centre, I was told by the authorities that the receipt I have been given is fraudulent and no such appointment was slotted in my name and that I needn't have made a payment to book an appointment. I called Doshi and put him on speaker and made the officials listen to our conversation. They also spoke to him. Doshi apologised and claimed he would stop fooling people and give me a refund. I wonder how many others might have fallen into his trap," rued Pinto, who has filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime department. He has submitted proof of all his email conversations and the online transaction made to Doshi.

"The Andheri centre officials were kind enough to help me and got my Aadhar card done for me," added Pinto.

When contacted, cyber crime officials confirmed that the complaint has come from Pravin Pinto. If proven to be a criminal activity, necessary action will be taken, they claimed. The Unique Identification Number (UID) officials remained unavailable for comment. u00a0