[RunGaDa]

On a relaxing “less work” September afternoon I got a message from my bank:
“Your FastTag has been blocked, please call the customer care number for details.”

It was surprising, but did I forget the KYC?

No I had not. Now it was more surprising to me. So I quickly called the number and after about 10 minutes got someone to talk to.
“Why did you block my FastTag?”
“Sir, you have another FastTag registered to your car. You are not allowed to have two FastTags for one car. Please clear the other one and we will unblock your FastTag.”

When I went to the fast tag website I was not able to believe my eyes that some one had Fraudulently issued a FastTag from
State Bank of India using my car number. And that too in 2017!
I have never ever dealt with SBI in my life and even in my worst of the worst minds I would not approach them for a FastTag.

So who has done this mischief?
And that too a complete 7 years ago?

In May 2017 someone issued a SBI fast tag using my car number. I was not using fast tag that time. I was using cash at every toll booth.
I purchased first fast tag in December 2019 from ICICI Bank.
On 18th Sep 2024 ICICI bank fast tag sent me a text message that my valid fast tag has been blocked because on NPCI (National Payments Crop of India) website my car is showing another fast tag from SBI bank. They told me I cannot have two FastTags on one car so they are blocking my valid tag. I had no idea why it took them 7 years to notify me.

I started the investigation and found that some one has fraudulently issued SBI Fast tag without my knowledge. After talking to almost 20 fastTag agents I received information on the fraudulent fastTag. I got the name and number of the agent who fraudulently issued a fastTag on my car.

I have tried to contact this person but he was not taking my call. Also there is no access to the agency from where this fraud person issued a fastTag.

Meanwhile I have initiated closure of my ICICI fastTag because my car windshield developed a crack and I have to replace the windshield. I also wanted to switch to a different source for fast tag anyways, so I requested to close the tag.
ICICI bank immediately complied to my request to close the fastTag account and arranged for the return of my balance on the wallet.

However after repeated efforts to close SBI fastTag it was not done because of non cooperation of SBI.
SBI fastTag was in no mood to help to clear the issue, they did not close the account after repeated requests. There was a "BUG" in their online system which did not allow to "Surrender" the fastTag if the email id and address are not present on the profile. When I tried to add the email id and address in the profile the system was not saving the information. And hence the fastag cannot be closed / surrendered unless SBI fixes the bug or closes using administrative rights at their end.
I have sent more than 10 emails to SBI team with screen shots to explain the issue. But no one was helping from their side.
I have made at least 50 calls to their call center. The call center associates are completely useless, they have no power to change / add / close anything in the system. All they do is to read out what is there in the account and mislead by giving fake phone numbers of SBI fastTag agents on field. I have tried calling the numbers and all of them are fake or no more working. I had a list of 10 plus complaints which I raised with SBI and SBI closed the complaints without resolution, saying it was resolved.

After repeated efforts since nothing was moving I have raised consumer grievance in INGRAM and also raised a Cyber Crime Complaint.
I tried to file a FIR but I did not get cooperation from the local police despite handing them a signed Affidavit with the facts, all document copies and spending complete weekend trying to do so.

After close to 3 weeks and one full week after which I had stopped checking status of the SBI fast tag, SBI secretly fixed the bug in their system, never notified me. I was able to save my email id, address in the profile and then complete the surrender of the tag by submitting a whole lot of documents.
Once that was done the process went I. For approvals and within a week my tag was closed.

The whole thing took a huge toll (no pun intended here) of my nerves.

I felt common man which the govt squeezes for income tax, petrol tax, GST, tolls and duties is completely ignored if he or she faces a problem. The system has hundreds of loopholes.
How else will some one get my car information and issue a fast tag without my knowledge?

I have thought about this many times. It’s possible that my car information was leaked from none other than SBI bank from whom I had taken car loan.

I cannot see any other possibility.
To my basic knowledge, unless I approve with OTP no one can issue a fast tag on my car. I haven’t changed my phone number from 10 years.
How did this slip through then?
I should’ve also paid to SBI if I wanted that FastTag. There is no transaction like that in my statement from 7 years ago.

What really happened here? Was this a prank or really someone has copied my car number and using fraudulently on their "stolen" car?

[deathwalkr]

Posted by others as well on the FASTag thread:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...ml#post5810519 (FASTag: All you need to know about procuring & using it!)

Really crazy system to allow such a loophole :(

[Jaguar]

Did you check the usage of the SBI tag and if/till when any vehicle with that tag crossed a toll?

Additionally, you shouldn't have updated the email with yours. Now unknowingly you have agreed that the tag belonged to you and SBI will wash off their hands.

[AutoGalaxy]

Looking back, I might have had same issue but could close that tag relatively with much ease. I wasn't thinking this might be a scam then .

This happened with my pre-owned car (came with ICICI FASTag IIRC, which was already closed by previous owner). I applied for Paytm FASTag and used it for more than a year without any issue.

Windshield replacement required me to request for new FASTag from Paytm and they couldn't because of a “SBI” FASTag linked to my car. That tag had -ve Rs.230 odd rupee as pending!

Got the agent to clear the due by paying and Paytm could issue new one with ease.

[Precision]

You should have checked if the SBI tag is currently being used before cancellation.

From Inception, the Fastag system is clubbed with Number plate reading system.

If your Fastag and number plate does not match the gate doesn't usually open.

What I am trying to say is if your Fastag was being used by someone else they probably are using your vehicle's number plate also.

[gopalnt]

Is there a way to find out from one place as to what Fastag is being used by a vehicle? This will allow us to detect fake tags.

[AlfaAlfa]

We can check FASTag details at NPCI website, it takes VRN as input and provide all the tags detail for that VRN:

https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/n...-fastag-status

[sumit1609]

Originally Posted by RunGaDa

On a relaxing “less work” September afternoon I got a message from my bank:
“Your FastTag has been blocked, please call the customer care number for details.”
...

A similar situation happened to me about a year and a half ago. I have an IDFC Bank FASTag, and suddenly, on multiple occasions, it stopped working (in malls, at toll booths, etc.) despite having sufficient balance. It took me three weeks to figure out the issue. When I raised the matter with IDFC, I was told that another FASTag was linked to my car. This was a complete surprise to me since I had not applied for any other FASTag service provider.

Somehow, I got in touch with Park+ customer care and discovered that the other FASTag was from Airtel Bank. This began a long series of emails to Airtel, reporting the fraudulent FASTag issued under my car number and the negligence in document verification. I repeatedly requested that Airtel close the FASTag associated with my car, but Airtel replied that the details linked to the Airtel FASTag were different from mine, and they couldn't do anything unless the person who owned the FASTag requested its closure.

I then asked Airtel to provide me with details about the person linked to this fraudulent FASTag, but they refused, citing data protection policies. It was a frustrating situation, as neither IDFC Bank nor Airtel Bank were helping.

After some trial and error and using the NHAI FASTag application, I managed to get the name of the individual. However, I couldn't find their contact number. Eventually, with this information, I reached out to Airtel Bank again, but getting in touch with the person seemed impossible. Finally, I was able to obtain the UPI ID associated with the FASTag, and through it, I found the person's phone number.

When I contacted this person, he explained that the FASTag was used by his wife about a year ago and that they were no longer using it. Upon asking how my car number got registered with their FASTag, he denied any knowledge of it. After several WhatsApp messages and phone calls over the span of three or four days, I convinced him to rectify the mistake and request Airtel Bank to close the FASTag.

He agreed but did not take any action for a week. During this time, I remained in touch with Airtel Bank’s customer care. After more follow-ups, the person finally called Airtel’s customer care and asked them to close the FASTag, stating they were not using it anymore. However, Airtel informed me that this needed to be done via email or through their app, which was frustrating. I escalated the issue, threatening to complain about Airtel's negligence and the fraudulent issuance of the FASTag.

A senior customer care representative from Airtel finally listened to my case and assured me that they would close the Airtel FASTag based on the telephonic conversation with the concerned person. Once this was done, I raised a request to unblock my original FASTag, which was successfully completed after eight days.

[bravo82in]

As far as I recall, KYC for FASTag was introduced around 3–4 years ago. Initially, FASTags could be issued quickly with just a copy of the vehicle’s registration certificate.

What’s important now is to examine the usage pattern of your SBI FASTag. If there’s no usage record, it’s possible that a mistake was made by an SBI employee, who may have issued a FASTag linked to another vehicle’s details instead of yours.

However, if you find recent transactions on your SBI FASTag, this could be a more serious issue. It may indicate that someone is using a fake license plate matching your vehicle’s registration number, potentially leading to legal complications for you. There have been reports of people being fined for traffic violations or FASTag charges when their vehicle was not present at the location.

If this applies to your case, it’s advisable to seek legal advice and file a police complaint to report unauthorized use of your registration number.

[amitayu]

I had a similar experience.

A sudden message stating my HDFC Fastag is being cancelled because I have applied for a new FASTAG shocked me to no ends.

A quick check at the NPCI website showed a new fastag has been issud by a new fintech service provider (I am not going to name them).

I called up their customer care number and was similarly stumped: since I am not the original account holder I could effectively do nothing.

I started posting on LinkedIn and X tagging the company handle and the representatives. Soon I received a response on LinkedIn asking for my number to have a chat with me.
The call was handled by someone pretty senior in their ranks who had more sense than a typical customer care executive.
He told me clearly that an application was received on a certain date basis which the FASTAG was issued. He also insisted that proper KYC was done.
I asked them "You would have checked aadhar and PAN and bank detail credentials. Did you check on -Parivahan whether the vehicle is registered to that person?" I then shared a screenshot of M-Parivahaan which clearly shows the vehicle is registered to my name!!!!

That got things moving. Within the day I received a series of call from different persons of the team who helped resolve the issue. They all requested me to take down the SM posts!
I said I will only do so once I receive a message from HDFC that my FASTAG is operaitonal.
They effectively (a) blocked the other fastag and (b) reinstated my previous FASTAG.
I tried out my Fastag on my way back from office at a shopping mall parking lot. Only then did i take down the SM posts.

So, lesson learnt
(A) social media posts work
(b) share evidence of M-Parivahaan vehicle registration (or copy of your registration on Digilocker). That is the biggest evidence you have in your favour (and the biggest hole in their KYC process).

[Ashtoncastelino]

I had a similar experience as well this year Jan. Randomly one day i decided to check the Fastag Status of my Swift on the NPCI Website. Shockingly I saw an Airtel FasTag that was issued with my numberplate while my Paytm FasTag was active, digging into finding more info I could see that there was a healthy balance of more than 2000+ rupees and was under the name of some person named Neethu. Tried to get the number registered to that airtel Fastag but no avail. I ended up emailing airtel to cancel the tag and also question on how they could issue a tag without my aadhar card and my RC since the Swift is under my name. They were clueless and were not ready to share the mobile number registered to the Airtel Fastag. I approached my nearest airtel store but they were also of no use. I also ended up going to the nearest Toll ( Hejamady Toll ) and explained the situation to them but even they were shocked as to how the tag was issue without the original RC and owner's Aadhar. So all efforts went to vain. I could also see that the tag was regularly topped up and used since the amount used to fluctuate every week or so.

In the end , Dad and me decided that we would drain out our Paytm Fastag balance and Blacklist it and then when we approach the tollgate, we would ask them to manually deduct the amount using the numberplate ( it would get deducted from the Airtel Fastag since that is the most recent fastag issue against my Number plate). We did this for all our Mangalore runs from Manipal. I also ended up doing a Mumbai trip using the Neethu's (Airtel Fastag) trick on most of the tolls, We also kept our Paytm FasTag topped up ready since the tag is attached on a sunfilm and removable. eventually when I ended up spending more than 2000rs on all my tolls, the One car One Fastag rule was implemented and Paytm ended up closing the Tag. I immediately issued new Amazon Pay Icici fastag and all the old tags including the Airtel Tag were inactive and blocked. Since my car has a active dashcam, I always made sure to keep the video files safely incase of any questions.

[RunGaDa]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Additionally, you shouldn't have updated the email with yours. Now unknowingly you have agreed that the tag belonged to you and SBI will wash off their hands.

The access to SBI account itself was one OTP away. SBI FASTag team has shown enough “guilty conscious” by delaying the matter and being extremely tight lipped on emails.

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Posted by others as well on the FASTag thread:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...ml#post5810519 (FASTag: All you need to know about procuring & using it!)

Really crazy system to allow such a loophole :(

A system with loop holes is like living in 21st century and doing 18th century stuff. No one cares in India. Even lawyers are not up to take this challenge.

Originally Posted by bravo82in

What’s important now is to examine the usage pattern of your SBI FASTag. If there’s no usage record, it’s possible that a mistake was made by an SBI employee, who may have issued a FASTag linked to another vehicle’s details instead of yours.

It looked like a mistake and Royal flubbing from SBI. Since I had no access to the fraudulent account as I was not knowing about that, until recently, I did not see any transactions or toll deductions in last one year.

To make my case strong I have filed an affidavit with the local police explaining with proof that I own the vehicle and that I have no knowledge of the SBI fast tag until recently when they decided to implement the one car one tag rule. The painful part in my episode is to hold the innocent to ransom by not clearing the fraudulent fast tag. Obviously SBI team wanted to hide their incompetence here.

Originally Posted by gopalnt

Is there a way to find out from one place as to what Fastag is being used by a vehicle? This will allow us to detect fake tags.

Yes, NPCI Website only vehicle number is enough, however it gives out a masked result showing only the first 4 and last 4 numbers of the tag number.

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Did you check the usage of the SBI tag and if/till when any vehicle with that tag crossed a toll?

As mentioned in another reply, after I got access to the fraudulent account I was able to see last one year transactions only and no toll deductions in that period.

Originally Posted by AutoGalaxy

That tag had -ve Rs.230 odd rupee as pending!

The system allowed negative balance is itself a huge loophole. This is just crazy. I am in disbelief that the Government of India cannot hire Process Experts before implementing such a big project. They just throw common people under the bus.

[TheCamShaft]

Originally Posted by gopalnt

Is there a way to find out from one place as to what Fastag is being used by a vehicle? This will allow us to detect fake tags.

PayTM based 'FASTag recharge' option is another single door method that's super easier to identify what entity has issued fast tag for a given vehicle. You just input a vehicle number and voila it gives the car make, model and the entity name that issued Fasttag for that vehicle number. I find it a very simpler method.

[manu220194]

As someone who works closely with banks, I can confidently say that writing to the ombudsman, RBI/NPCI nodal authority or a crisply worded social media post can get the issue solved in 24 hrs.

[BoredBonnet]

I had an issue where my fastag was debited from a toll in Nagpur or so ! Probably some wrong tagging issue, not sure though. Raised to the bank and got a refund.