Hundreds fall victim to PAN identity theft on Dhani app

New Delhi, Feb 22 (IANS) In a possible identity theft at a mass level, several Indians have been left high and dry on discovering unaccounted outstanding loans from IndiaBulls-owned fintech platform Dhani on their credit history records.

In the past couple of days, several victims -- from celebrities like Sunny Leone to journalist  -- took to Twitter to raise red flags over such unaccounted loans in their names, via the misuse of their PAN details by scamsters.

On the Dhani app, a user needs PAN and address proof details to secure a loan.

In several cases, PAN card holders found, while checking their CIBIL history, that loans were disbursed by Dhani to unknown individuals on their PAN details without their consent and knowledge.

"Shocking revelation in my credit report. A loan disbursed by IVL Finance with my PAN number and name, addresses in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. I have no clue. How can a disbursal happen on my name and PAN," Kalra recently posted on Twitter.

Bollywood actor Leone also claimed to be the target of identity theft on the fintech platform Dhani.

"This just happened to me. INSANE. Some idiot used my Pan to take a 2000 RS loan and F****d my CIBIL score (SIC)," she said, referring to her credit score.

Several users have tagged the Dhani app, the RBI, the Finance Ministry and other authorities explaining they have been a victim of a large identity theft.

Several users posted on Twitter that they never applied for any loan from Dhani app and yet, they were receiving calls from the company representatives to pay back the amount.

Dhani has said it is investigating the matter and is "weighing all complaints to see if it was a case of identity theft and rectifying records in the credit bureaus".

According to reports, the company was also working with global security platform G-defence to re-verify each device against a specific customer and PAN through various data fields.

Formerly known as Indiabulls Consumer Finance Limited, Dhani Loans and Services disburses personal loans and loans to small and medium businesses sans any deposits.

A person can avail of loans from Dhani by giving only PAN card details and address proof as documents. The Dhani app has over 5 crore downloads on the Google Play Store.

Independent cyber security researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia told IANS that last year, millions of PAN card data were stolen by hackers and at least 1.5 lakh PAN cards were put on Dark Web for sale by one such hacker.

"Cyber-criminals and people who have access to this leaked PAN data may be misusing it to secure loans via Dhani app and the victims have no idea. The whole episode should be properly investigated by the concerned authorities," Rajaharia told IANS.