In today’s digital age, your personal information is highly vulnerable. Your Permanent Account Number (PAN) card is a unique identifier for tax purposes, holds immense value and can be misused by fraudsters to obtain loans or credit cards.
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Monday 31March 2025
Whether scammers use a fake instant loan app or send a phishing email that leads you to divulge this information, it is best to know about the means in order to keep your PAN number safe. Knowing the telltale signs of such activity and proactive measures you can implement will help you safeguard your financial well-being. Furthermore, learn what role OneScore plays in this journey.
What is PAN Card Fraud?
Fraudsters may use your PAN Card details to get a loan or a credit card in your name. The exact process may differ – they could reach out to you through different methods (known as phishing) to get you to share your PAN details. You could also impersonate real lenders or banks or could entice you to download a fake loan app.
Throughout the process, scammers will pressure you into sharing your PAN and other ID proofs. Once they have the data, they may disappear or not stay in touch with you for the initial excuse.
Thereafter, they may use your documents as identity proof to apply for a personal loan online.
This type of loan fraud can have financial repercussions as loan EMIs may get deducted from your bank accounts monthly. If this is not the case, then unpaid dues will accumulate on your loan account. This will lead to damage to your credit history and your score. Therefore, it is important to detect them as soon as possible to avoid facing the consequences.
How to Detect PAN Card Fraud
There are two ways to detect if there are any fake loans in your name. First is to check your bank statement regularly to ensure there are no unauthorised mandates toward loan repayment on your account. If you do see any, reach out to the lender immediately.
The second method is to generate a credit report periodically to detect any discrepancies in your credit history. Checking your complete credit history gives you surety that there is no loan or credit card in your name that you did not apply for.
How to Report them
In case you detect any fraudulent loan in your credit history, the first step is to bring it to the lender’s attention. You can reach out to customer care or write an email to the financial institute informing them that you have not availed of the loan.
Once they contact you, they will require some of your personal details to verify this account. In case they do not give a satisfactory solution to your problem, you can directly raise a dispute on the credit bureau’s website.
Upon reporting any discrepancy in your credit history, the bureau will take over the case and contact the lender directly. Within a few days, the details of the loan will disappear from your credit history, ultimately reflecting this change in your credit score as well.
How to Avoid Such Fraud
A straightforward way to avoid such situations is to be vigilant and cautious. The first thing to understand is that lenders will never reach out to you with unsolicited loan offers. So, if you are getting a loan offer when you have not requested to check an offer on the lender’s website or instant loan app, then it may be a fraud.
Some banks do offer pre-approved loans to their customers, but it is based on their credit profile. If you are an existing customer of a bank and they have all your details available, then they may analyse your creditworthiness and give you loan offers accordingly. Therefore, if a well-known bank is reaching out to you with a pre-approved offer, and you are not their existing customer, it is most likely an imposter.
It is also best not to click on any loan offer links received on WhatsApp or SMS. If you are using your PAN Card for identity verification, use a masked version. Moreover, don’t share your PAN Card or any other document with everyone. Be careful who you are sharing it with.
With these tips, you can easily avoid falling for such frauds. However, the best option is to generate a credit report once in a while to ensure there are no fake loans in your name. While most credit bureaus only give you one free annual check, you can use the OneScore App to get a free credit report anytime – all through your lifetime.
What’s more, you can use this credit score and instant loan app to directly report any discrepancies to credit bureaus like CIBIL and Experian. Apart from that, it gives you customised tips on how to improve your credit score based on which factor is hurting your score.
Once your score reaches 730, you can apply for a personal loan online of up to ₹5 lakhs and more using the OnePL facility. Download the OneScore App now to check your credit score and report!
