No, Your FASTag Cannot Be Hacked By Random Strangers; Paytm Issues Clarification

A viral video of a little boy scanning a car’s FASTag with his smartwatch while wiping the windshield of a car has been doing rounds over the internet.

In response, the online payments major Paytm and the government body NPCI or National Payments Corporation of India have issued clarifications regarding the reality of the viral video, calling it ‘baseless and false videos circulating on social media’ regarding the FASTag payment system. 

As per both the entities, Paytm and NPCI, transactions via FASTags cannot be executed using open internet connectivity, adding that the even portrayed in the viral video is baseless because the end-to-end transaction of safe processing is done take care by the companies, as security protocols surrounding the whole development pass through several layers.

Viral Video on FASTag Scam Declared Baseless

The viral video of a young boy cleaning a car’s windshield and scanning the FASTag has been making headlines. The child, when questioned by the driver, runs away, and the former asserts this to be a larger scam in which fraudsters have given smartwatches with scanners to children who beg at traffic signals, stated news reports.

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. pic.twitter.com/BmXhq07HrS

— Paytm (@Paytm) June 25, 2022

In response, entities NCPI and Paytm has posed a backlash to the legitimacy of the video.

Paytm tweeted, ““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.”

In a separate issue, the government body NPCI has claimed the video baseless and false. It has underlined that no transactions on FASTags can be executed through open internet connectivity.

Some of NPCI’s claims include:

• NETC FASTag operates only for Person to Merchant (P2M) transactions. No Person to Person (P2P) transactions are facilitated through NETC FASTag Network. This means an individual cannot receive the money in the NETC FASTag ecosystem from fraudulent transactions. 
• Only authorised System Integrators (SI), on behalf of concessionaires are allowed to participate for specific plazas and initiate Payment transactions.
• Every Merchant (Toll & Parking Plazas) boarded by NPC) are allotted a unique Plaza code. Which is on boarded only by authorised acquirer Banks active on the NETC FASTag ecosystem Every acquirer Bank is provided a unique Acquire ID (AID). The combination of the Plaza code and Bank Acquirer ID is mapped at the NPCI end.
• Geo-location of every Merchant (Plaza) has been stored at respective Acquirer Banks and NPC.

You can find more information here.