New Delhi. PAN card is mandatory for every taxpayer in India. In 2024, the maximum attempt to commit fraud with this document was made across the world. According to a report, out of the tax documents around the world, 27.1% frauds were done with PAN cards.
The 2025 Identity Fraud Report of Entrust, a US firm, states that PAN card fraud has increased due to the availability of easy online templates. The report also says that the use of fake documents has increased rapidly, especially in lending platforms, banks and crypto industry.
Fraud increasing worldwide
According to the report, important documents like national identity card, tax ID, passport and driving license are the targets of cyber criminals. India’s PAN card is at the top of this list. On the other hand, if we talk about national identity cards, then the identity cards of Pakistan and Bangladesh remained on top in the cases of fraud. The rapid digitalization process has also changed the method of fraud. Now instead of traditional paper documents, fraud in digital documents has increased rapidly. There has been a 244 percent increase in cases of fraud with digital documents as compared to last year.
Misuse of Generative AI
The report has revealed that with the help of Artificial Intelligence, it has become easy for criminals to create fake documents. While in 2020 only 3.4 percent of frauds were being committed with the help of AI, in 2024 this figure has reached 57.5 percent.
Pen 2.0 will come
In view of these increasing frauds, the Government of India has announced the launch of a new and better version of PAN card. It has been named Pen 2.0, which will further strengthen data security. Dynamic UR code will be given in the new PAN card, which will keep the user’s information updated. Apart from this, the government will secure the personal and demographic information of the users with the help of PEN Data Vault. The government said that this new system will follow global standards and simplify the registration of taxpayers as well as ensure security, quality and service management under ISO certification.
Initiative to stop fraud
This step has been taken to promote the security of Digital India as well as to stop the designs of criminals. Using new technologies, PEN 2.0 will not only prevent data theft and tampering, but will also respond to the growing challenge of digital documents.