With the recent Cabinet nod, the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 is going to be a reality sooner rather than later. Amid the various chords, that the Data Protection Bill attempts to strike, the bill addresses the critical issue of Data theft to ensure personal data security. This bill aims to protect the privacy of individuals with respect to their personal data and governs the relationship between individuals and entities processing their personal data.Â
With the advent of the digital revolution, data theft and misuse has become a new aspect of cyber crime in the 21st Century. As per a report by PWC, there has been a steep rise in the number of cases of Identity theft and violation of know your customer norms.Â
Another report by Securitas reveals that every minute about 19 people fall victim to identity theft. Identity theft accounts for 77% of the fraud cases in India. There were multiple cases reported where fraudsters were found to be using credit cards issued by misappropriating someone else’s KYC (Know Your Customer) documents!
These simple stats should clearly ring the alarm to the ordinary customers to be fully aware before submitting KYC documents. The customers are advised to provide his/her personal information in the form of KYC to trusted sources or institutions only.
For example, if you are travelling abroad and want to purchase foreign currency, you are required to provide with multiple documents such as your PAN card, Passport, Visa, Air ticket, details as per the foreign exchange regulations in India. In certain cases, you may even be required to furnish your Income Tax Return.Â
While the money changer asks the customer to submit these documents, there is no mechanism in place to ensure the safety of the personal details which makes it prone to misuse.Â
Now, with the foreign exchange market size of India pegged at whopping $ 54 Billion , one can imagine the gravity of the problem of KYC documents misuse in the forex industry. Unscrupulous players often misuse these documents by either selling them to third parties or executing multiple transactions against the same set of documents. Needless to say, this can lead to serious consequences for the victim ranging from taxation issues to complete identity theft.
There are greater and greater chances of misuse of your KYC documents if you are purchasing foreign currency from a local money changer which has low or no credibility in the foreign exchange market. It is less likely though not impossible that your KYC documents submitted to some reputed institution for foreign exchange such as a bank can be put to any misuse.
Steps Taken By BookMyForex to Safeguard Customers’ Data:
Being a trusted and responsible player in the foreign exchange market, BookMyForex has always been involved in solving customer-centric issues on priority. At BookMyForex, we don’t just focus on providing the best forex rates and the best experience to our customers, we also take data privacy and protection very seriously.Â
In line with that, BookMyForex has recently introduced some technological innovations to keep the documents that you upload on our platform safe and secure.
Document Watermarking:
While thinking about the safety of the data and documents as provided by the customers, BookMyForex has come up with the idea of watermarking the documents, every time the customer uploads it on the website. Watermarking clearly defines the purpose of use of the document and prevents from getting them used/misused/abused for any other purposes.
Watermarking the document prevents people from being able to make fake copies and therefore, to be sure that the document is authentic and has been put to use for the mentioned purpose only.Â
Therefore, all documents that you upload going forward will carry a watermark stating your BookMyForex order reference number and a line mentioning that your document is strictly for use against the same order.
Bank Level Encryption
Not just watermarking, all the documents uploaded on our platform are encrypted using the bank level encryption to protect the customers against any possible data-breach. Bank encryption essentially encodes all of your information in a way that prevents data hackers from accessing your data.Â
Apart from that, from choosing only the most reliable and reputed RBI licensed companies to partner with and carrying out extensive and regular due diligence of our partnering vendors, BookMyForex has always tried to ensure that the customer’s transactions are executed safely.Â
About the Author
Amrita Pritam is the Vice President - PR & Marketing at BookMyForex. Amrita has over 10 years of experience spanning various industries. When free, Amrita loves to read realistic fiction and spiritual books.
