41% people blame telecom, banking service for financial data breach: LocalCircles survey

In recent times, people in many cases are required to share personal data such as PAN, Aadhaar cards, and even banking details, for a myriad of activities like applying for a debit/credit card, getting a SIM card, and even while travelling or availing Government services.

With this, the news reports about how hackers and fraudsters have squeezed people's banking details and their personal information are being sold, shared without taking the individual's consent have also increased.

LocalCircles, while taking cognisance of such issues, conducted a survey and asked people's responses on topics like personal financial data breach and who they think is responsible for the breach.

According to the survey, among the citizens who have shared their PAN card in the last 10 years, 86 per cent of people said "banks," 58 per cent said "mobile service providers" and 54 per cent said "loan or insurance agencies."

Around 46 per cent of citizens said they have shared their PAN details with "digital payment apps," 63 per cent share it with 'government offices" and 60 per cent share it with "chartered accountant/lawyer."

37 per cent citizens shared their pan card with "airlines/hotels, etc" and 30 per cent revealed that they shared details with "all sorts of businesses and people" respectively.

The survey also revealed that around 5 per cent of respondents said that they "gave away the information without checking", and 33 per cent said, "just couldn't figure out how my data got compromised".

When asked about the risk of a personal data breach, 41 per cent alleged that it was done by telecom or banking service providers.

The survey received over 20,500 responses from residents in 337 districts of the country. Among them, 66 per cent were men while 34 per cent were women.

45 per cent respondents were from tier 1, 32 per cent from tier 2 and 23 per cent respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.