Recently, a video of a FASTag scanner scam has gone viral on social media. In the video, two men are sitting inside a car, and a young boy is cleaning the car's windshield. It is observed in the video that the boy is wearing a smartwatch, and he tries to scan the FASTag affixed to the vehicle.
One of the men inside the car tries to chase the boy but fails to do so. Following this, the other guy in the car explains the scam.
The man claims,” the smartwatch on the boy’s hand was capable of scanning the FASTag and was able to deduct the money from the linked PayTM account.” The video has caused a lot of panic amongst FASTag users. They worry if the FASTag could be scanned even while the car is parked on the road. There were rumours that FASTag was not secure and was planning a redesign.
Park+, a FASTag service provider startup in India, goes on to explain why people need not be anxious after watching the video.
Park+ has been an integral part of the launch and scale of FASTag usage in India. The tech team at Park+, with solid knowledge of the architecture and design of FASTag technology, claims the FASTag technology uses advanced state-of-art security layers to protect against such scams.
First, Each toll plaza in the country is allocated with a unique code and is tied to a mapper acquirer Bank, and both these combinations are mapped to the National Electronic Toll Collection system. Along with a linkage of Geo-collection codes for each of these toll plazas.
For a payment to get through using a FASTag, the three entities, Unique Toll ID, the acquirer bank, and the NETC system, need to signal each other to initiate the payment. To add to it, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) processes the payment via a secure closed-loop internet through the NETC system, which is not open to the common public, making it an extremely fool-proof system. These IP addresses are white-listed by the banks and NPCI. The team of engineers at FASTag has carried out elaborate security checks and maintained stringent testing standards before the nationwide deployment of the technology. Consistent monitoring and reporting are carried out to prevent any scams.
Hence, the video's issue is impossible to occur at any random location in the middle of the road using an intelligent watch scanner or any similar means.
Park+ has partnered with IDFC Bank to launch India’s first all-in-one cheapest FASTag. Park+ FASTag is a single RFID tag for multiple needs and helps you de-clutter your car windshield. Park+ FASTag helps you with no-stopping drive-thru at NHAI Toll plazas, HPCL petrol pumps, society & corporate gates, and select parking lots across the country. Using Park+, you can buy and recharge FASTag online.