Mumbai: Security guard gets Rs 2.2 crore tax shock after identity theft scam

The Vakola police have begun probing a case in which a 31yearold cruiseliner security guard was slapped with an incometax notice of more than Rs 22 crore after unknown fraudsters allegedly created a fake trading company in his name and routed highvalue export transactions through it The complainant Austin Xavier Froes who works with an international cruise shipping company and resides in New Panvel Navi Mumbai with his wife has alleged largescale identity theftFroes who earlier lived at Santacruz East spends several months each year working at sea He told police that his family survives solely on his monthly salary and that he has never operated any business mdash certainly not one involving crores of rupees in garment exportsThe matter surfaced in April this year when Froes received an incometax notice claiming unfiled returns for two years and mentioning sizeable business transactions Assuming it was a clerical mistake he ignored it But in July a second notice arrived this time detailing a massive tax demand running into crores Alarmed his wife contacted their acquaintance chartered accountant Vishal Kothari who confirmed that the notice was genuineThe cops are checking company records bank trails digital footprints and trade filings linked to the fake entity Representation PiciStockShocked the couple visited the incometax office in Lalbaug where officials informed them that a trading firm had been registered in Froesrsquos name around 2019 and transactions exceeding Rs 220 crore had been routed through it According to officials the firmrsquos documents carried Froesrsquos name but the photograph and signature belonged to a completely different person exposing a clear case of identity theft and document forgeryldquoThe PAN card used by the accused to establish the company was found to have my PAN number but the photograph and signature on that card were visibly different from minerdquo Froes told the police He then submitted all incometax notices and supporting papers to Vakola police stating that unknown persons fraudulently used forged IDs and fabricated KYC details to register the bogus company and conduct multiple highvalue transactions over several yearsPolice sources said the case appears to be the work of a wellorganised network specialising in identity theft using stolen or duplicated personal documents of individuals with modest incomes who are often away from home for long periods The police have registered a cheating and forgery case against an unknown accused Officers are now checking company records bank trails digital footprints and trade filings linked to the fake entity suspecting a larger financialfraud racketWhat to doStating what steps someone dealing with identity theft should take Advocate Sunil Pandey said ldquoObtaining proper legal advice at the very beginning is extremely important One must hire a competent lawyer without delay It is also essential to immediately lodge a complaint at the local police station and inform the Income Tax Departmentrsquos Investigation Wing about the matter In appropriate situations a writ petition can also be filed before the High Court making the Income Tax authorities a party to seek urgent reliefrdquoHow you could prevent your documents from being misusedSenior cyber forensic expert Nishant Salunke explainsgtgt Do not share Aadhaar or PAN with unknown people No legitimate bank company or government body asks for KYC documents through WhatsApp or unverified linksgtgt Lock your Aadhaar biometrics Using the mAadhaar app individuals can lock their biometric information to prevent unauthorised verification attemptsgtgt Always use a Masked Aadhaar Sharing a Masked Aadhaar mdash where only the last four digits are visible mdash significantly reduces the risk of misusegtgt Regularly check PAN activity Citizens should monitor the Income Tax portal to ensure no unknown GST registrations businesses or suspicious transactions are linked to their PANgtgt Prefer DigiLocker over sending document photos DigiLocker provides digitally signed documents that are more secure and harder to forge compared to scanned images or photos shared casuallygtgt Use strong watermarks while sharing documents Before submitting any document digitally add a watermark such asldquoFor ltspecific purposegt only Not valid for KYC GST or registrationrdquo This makes it difficult for documents to be reused illegallygtgt Share only essential sections of sensitive documents While sending bank statements or financial records individuals are advised to hide or blur inactive sections and highlight only the required parts This reduces the risk of document morphinggtgt Use encrypted or passwordprotected files For legal or official submissions experts recommend sending encrypted PDFs or passwordprotected documents Even if these files reach the wrong person they cannot be opened without the correct password