UIDAI files FIRs against 8 sites for collecting user info

New Delhi, April 19 (PTI): The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has filed FIRs against eight unauthorised websites for promising Aadhaar-related services, and illegally collecting Aadhaar number and enrolment details from people.
The crackdown marks the first instance of FIRs being lodged by the authority against fraudulent and illegal websites touting Aadhaar-related services.
The sites are aadhaarupdate.com, aadhaarindia.com, pvcaadhaar.in, aadhaarprinters.com, geteaadhaar.com, downloadaadhaarcard.in, aadharcopy.in, and duplicateaadharcard.com.
These websites were collecting Aadhaar number and enrolment details illegally from residents and promising Aadhaar services posing as entities authorised by UIDAI.
“We found that even after we ordered the shutting down of some unauthorised websites, some new websites had come up.
This time, we have lodged an FIR against the erring websites,” UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey told PTI.
The Section 38 of Aadhaar Act deals with penalty for unauthorised access to the Central Identities Data Repository.
The punishment under this section is imprisonment of upto three years and fine not less than Rs 10 lakh. IPC’s Section 420 provides for an imprisonment of up to seven years and a fine.
At present, any Aadhaar-related demographic information can only be shared following the procedures laid down in the Aadhaar Act, 2016.
More than 113 crore Aadhaar IDs have been generated in the country so far and Aadhaar authentications have crossed the 500 crore mark, while 100 crore e-KYCs have been done on the platform.