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Dilawar Singh   06 January 2021

misuse of PAN to file income tax returns

hi ,

I have left my job in 2014 and before that I started filling my income tax return in 2012 and post which i didn't filed any of the returns and didn't used my login created for income tax e filing.

Few days ago, I noticed that someone changes has been done on my account and was shocked to see that someone hacked my account and was using that since 2014 to file ITR by some CA for some Proprietor Company from Panipat.

what sections are applicable on this Fraud case and how I need to proceed with this?

i have all documents with me and evidences.

kindly advise.



Learning

 2 Replies

Samayeta Bal   06 January 2021

Hello sir,

If your bank account was hacked these are the methods that can be followed by you.

  1. Contact your bank and first block your bank credit/debit card.
  2. If the bank account is hacked immediately after you have done some online transaction from some PC, then the first scan and clean your PC with the latest anti-virus scanner. This is to get rid of any rootkit or key logger that may have been installed on the PC and which would have compromised your login details and sent it to the hacker.
  3. Reset your login password, pin, security questions answers.
  4. Verify your contact details like address, the phone number is not changed by the hacker.
  5. Report the scam to the right authority in the bank.
  6. Report fraud to the local police station.

You can also report misuse of your PAN card.

  1. Step - 1. Visit https://incometax.intelenetglobal.com/pan/pan.asp.
  2. Step - 2. Click on the submit button and fill out the requisite details like Nature of Complaint, Receipt Number, etc.
  3. Step - 3. Click on submit button in order to Submit the Grievance

You do have legal remedies under the IT Act. 

Chapter XI Section 66 of IT Act, 2000 particularly deals with the act of hacking. Section 66(1) defines a hack as, any person, dishonestly or fraudulently, does any act referred to in Section 43 is called hacking, and Section 66(2) prescribes the punishment for it. Hacking is a punishable offense in India with imprisonment up to 3 years, or with fine up to two lakh rupees, or with both.

Chapter IX Section 43 of IT act, 2000 prescribes a penalty for the damage to a computer or computer system. It is a common thing that happens whenever a computer system is hacked. Black hats damage the system that they hack and steal the information. This enumerative provision includes a lot of activities.

Chapter XI Section 65 of the said Act makes tampering with computer source documents an offense. Section 72 of the same chapter makes the breach of confidentiality and privacy, a punishable offense. This is the most common aftermath of hacking.

The following things can also be considered. 

If the loss happened due to the bank’s negligence:

The RBI says if a deficiency that led to the fraudulent transaction is on part of the bank then as a bank customer you do not need to worry at all as the entire loss will be borne by the bank and not by you. Your liability is zero in this case.

If the fraud is a result of your negligence:

In cases where the loss is due to your negligence then you will have to bear the entire loss until the unauthorized transaction is reported to the bank.

If neither you nor your bank is at fault:

In some cases, it may so happen that the fault lies within the system and neither the bank nor the customer is at fault. The customer’s liability will be zero if he or she reports it to the bank within 3 working days of receiving the communication from the bank about the unauthorized transaction.

I hope I could be of help. 

Adv chirag Vajani (Advocate)     06 January 2021

File complaint with Income tax department as well as Cyber cell


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