The Vakola police have begun probing a case in which a 31-year-old cruise-liner security guard was slapped with an income-tax notice of more than Rs 2.2 crore after unknown fraudsters allegedly created a fake trading company in his name and routed high-value export transactions through it. The complainant, Austin Xavier Froes, who works with an international cruise shipping company and resides in New Panvel, Navi Mumbai, with his wife, has alleged large-scale identity theft.
Froes, who earlier lived at Santacruz East, spends several months each year working at sea. He told police that his family survives solely on his monthly salary and that he has never operated any business — certainly not one involving crores of rupees in garment exports.
The matter surfaced in April this year, when Froes received an income-tax notice claiming unfiled returns for two years and mentioning sizeable business transactions. Assuming it was a clerical mistake, he ignored it. But in July, a second notice arrived, this time detailing a massive tax demand running into crores. Alarmed, his wife contacted their acquaintance, chartered accountant Vishal Kothari, who confirmed that the notice was genuine.
The cops are checking company records, bank trails, digital footprints, and trade filings linked to the fake entity. Representation Pic/iStock
Shocked, the couple visited the income-tax office in Lalbaug, where officials informed them that a trading firm had been registered in Froes’s name around 2019, and transactions exceeding Rs 2.20 crore had been routed through it. According to officials, the firm’s documents carried Froes’s name, but the photograph and signature belonged to a completely different person, exposing a clear case of identity theft and document forgery.
“The PAN card used by the accused to establish the company was found to have my PAN number, but the photograph and signature on that card were visibly different from mine,” Froes told the police. He then submitted all income-tax notices and supporting papers to Vakola police, stating that unknown persons fraudulently used forged IDs and fabricated KYC details to register the bogus company and conduct multiple high-value transactions over several years.
Police sources said the case appears to be the work of a well-organised network specialising in identity theft, using stolen or duplicated personal documents of individuals with modest incomes who are often away from home for long periods. The police have registered a cheating and forgery case against an unknown accused. Officers are now checking company records, bank trails, digital footprints, and trade filings linked to the fake entity, suspecting a larger financial-fraud racket.
What to do?
Stating what steps someone dealing with identity theft should take, Advocate Sunil Pandey said, “Obtaining proper legal advice at the very beginning is extremely important. One must hire a competent lawyer without delay. It is also essential to immediately lodge a complaint at the local police station and inform the Income Tax Department’s Investigation Wing about the matter. In appropriate situations, a writ petition can also be filed before the High Court, making the Income Tax authorities a party to seek urgent relief.”
How you could prevent your documents from being misused
Senior cyber forensic expert Nishant Salunke explains:
>> Do not share Aadhaar or PAN with unknown people. No legitimate bank, company, or government body asks for KYC documents through WhatsApp or unverified links.
>> Lock your Aadhaar biometrics. Using the mAadhaar app, individuals can lock their biometric information to prevent unauthorised verification attempts.
>> Always use a Masked Aadhaar. Sharing a Masked Aadhaar — where only the last four digits are visible — significantly reduces the risk of misuse.
>> Regularly check PAN activity. Citizens should monitor the Income Tax portal to ensure no unknown GST registrations, businesses, or suspicious transactions are linked to their PAN.
>> Prefer DigiLocker over sending document photos. DigiLocker provides digitally signed documents that are more secure and harder to forge compared to scanned images or photos shared casually.
>> Use strong watermarks while sharing documents. Before submitting any document digitally, add a watermark such as:
“For <specific purpose> only. Not valid for KYC, GST, or registration.” This makes it difficult for documents to be reused illegally.
>> Share only essential sections of sensitive documents. While sending bank statements or financial records, individuals are advised to hide or blur inactive sections and highlight only the required parts. This reduces the risk of document morphing.
>> Use encrypted or password-protected files. For legal or official submissions, experts recommend sending encrypted PDFs or password-protected documents. Even if these files reach the wrong person, they cannot be opened without the correct password.
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