Long lines outside the offices of gazetted officials for document certification may have virtually disappeared with the Prime Minister’s suggestion that union ministries and state governments should make provisions to accept documents that are certified by the applicant him/herself. The move he said would make minimum use of affidavits and shift to self-certification, so as to benefit the common man.

The burden of having to spend hours in line for that signature to give the document ‘true copy’ status may have reduced, but another

threat looms on the horizon. With citizens self-attesting valuable information in the form of a PAN card, driver’s license and other identification, the threat of identity theft is becoming a reality. Whether for government or private submission, if a signed copy of a document that

holds sensitive personal details about an individual falls into the wrong hands, it could have serious consequences.

Delhi based cyber security expert Rakshit Tandon has dealt with thousands of cases of identity fraud, and identity theft using selfattested

documents has become the latest trend, he says. Tandon who also works with the Goa cyber cell says many such cases have taken place here as well. He relates the specific case of a man in Delhi who bought a SIM card from a mobile store in the capital city. The shop owner

made several copies of his self-attested documents to procure many other SIM connections.

“Identity theft can take place in online transactions and face-to-face dealings like acquiring a new SIM card with attested copies

of documents. It becomes relatively easy for a perpetrator to use information readily handed over to him. That too with information

as sensitive as PAN card numbers, account

numbers etc,” says Tandon, who also runs

A&R Info Security Soultions Pvt Ltd.

One way to secure one’s interests and

rights is to write details on the document

such as why the ID information is being

submitted and the date of its submission

with the applicant’s signature. For example,

if you’re handing over a copy of your PAN