Shop owner making ₹8,000 a month gets income tax notice over ₹12 crore transaction

Action from the Income Tax department is something that is dreadful even for seasoned politicians and top entrepreneurs. Any common person would be alarmed after receiving an income tax notice, especially when it is about a transaction they haven't carried out.

Kishangopal Chaparwal, a stationary shop owner with disabilities, was shocked when he received an income tax notice flagging a Rs 12.23 crore transaction.

Alarmed by the taxman's knock

• Chaparwal approached the police against the notice, as he had no clue about the transaction and only makes Rs 8,000 a month.

• The shop owner claims that his financial data has been misused by fraudsters to transfer the amount.

• A chartered accountant that Chaparwal consulted, told him that his PAN card was misused to set up two shell firms in Surat and Mumbai.

• Disguised as diamond trading companies, they were used as a front for transferring crores via multiple transactions.

PAN details not so secure?

• The smallscale businessman now facing scrutiny from tax authorities, is himself a victim of an elaborate scam, and now seeks relief.

• Before this, PAN details of celebrities such as Abhishek Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty, Emran Hashmi and MS Dhoni were used to pull off credit card fraud.

• Once the scammers find a person's GST Identity Number online, they can spot the PAN number which is a part of it, and then use the financial data illegally.

• Apart from precautions that include safeguarding identity details, people can also check credit scores to look for loan frauds being carried out with their PAN number.