The Enforcement Directorate has issued a list of measures to facilitate the verification of the authenticity of the summons issued by the law enforcement agency amid growing instances of such fake summonses, which appear to be real.
The measures have been introduced to make it easier for citizens to identify whether a summons is real or fake and protect them against cheating and extortion.
“In order to allow the individuals to verify the authenticity of the summons received by them, the Directorate of Enforcement has implemented a mechanism of generating summons through the system which bears QR code and a unique passcode at the bottom of the summons,” as per a ED press release dated Oct. 8.
It underlined that ED officials had been instructed to issue summons only through the system except in certain exceptional circumstances.
Citizens are advised to note whether these summonses have signatures and stamps because the summons generated from the system will be “duly signed and stamped by the official issuing the summons” and will also contain their official email id and the phone number for correspondence purpose.
Here are steps to verify the authenticity of these summonses:
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Citizens can scan the QR code given on the summons, which will redirect them to ED’s website page. From there, they can enter the unique passcode printed on the summons in the given field on webpage.
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If it is authentic, then the contents of the summons, such as the name of the party summoned, name and designation of the officer and date of summons, will be shown on the screen
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Another way to verify the summons is to open the url https://enforcementdirectorate.gov.in/ and click on
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‘Verify Your Summons’ menu, from there citizens can enter the summons no. mentioned on the top of the summons and the unique Passcode printed on the bottom of the summons.
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In case the summons is authentic, the contents will be visible on the screen.
Since scammers use ‘digital arrests’ as a method to deceive the public, the law enforcement body also emphasised that ED arrests are made physically in person.
“There is no concept of digital arrest or online arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002”, the press release stated.
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