Reasons that prove the video featuring watch scanning Fastag is fake

There’s a viral video doing rounds that claim how a child scanning FASTag with his smartwatch while wiping the windshield of a car is part of a larger scam. In the video, the driver claims that fraudsters have given smartwatches with scanners to little children who beg at traffic lights. These childern while wiping the windshields of the car, steal money from the FASTag.

Times of India-Gadgets Now spoke to ethical hacker Sunny Nehra who termed the video fake. Nehra said that there is no way that anyone can steal money from FASTag account like this. Nehra has also explained the same on his Twitter account. He went into how FASTags work and their inbuilt security mechanism:

* Every toll plaza has unique code allocated to it.

* Similarly, all toll plazas have napper acquirer bank.

* Both the combinations are mapped at NETC system. National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) system enables the customer to make the electronic payment at any NETC-enabled toll plaza on the highway without stopping at the toll using RFID technology.

* Geo codes are mapped for each toll plaza.

* IP are whitelisted by banks as well as SI and NPCI. This means that only the approved merchants (licensed Toll and parking Plaza) can initiate transactions that too at respective geo-locations (and not just anywhere). Also, for any transaction to process, there is need of toll plaza ID (generated and known to SI, acquirer Bank and NPCI). “NPCI is connected with member banks through its network and there is no way that these transactions can leak,” says Nehra.

Another built-in security mechanism is notification alerts. Once the customer pays through FASTag, he will get SMS mentioning Toll Name, Transaction Date, Transaction Amount and Available Balance in his FASTag account. Vehicle owners can also check the toll fare on the NHAI website for your respective toll plazas.

Paytm terms the video fake
“A video is spreading misinformation about Paytm FASTag that incorrectly shows a smartwatch scanning FASTag. As per NETC guidelines, FASTag payments can be initiated only by authorised merchants, onboarded after multiple rounds of testing. Paytm FASTag is completely safe & secure,” said Paytm in a statement.

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