BHPian RunGaDa recently shared this with other enthusiasts: 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? Here’s whatBHPian Jaguarhad to say in this matter: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.Meanwhile, here’s that BHPian Precision had to add to the discussion: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.BHPian amitayu shared his similar experiance as well: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).Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
