The Tribune carried a disturbing report – Rs 500, 10 minutes, and you have access to billion Aadhaar details – on Wednesday, detailing how Aadhaar details of billions were being sold. “Today, The Tribune ‘purchased’ a service being offered by anonymous sellers over WhatsApp that provided unrestricted access to details for any of the more than 1 billion Aadhaar numbers created in India thus far,” it said.

The report went on to say that it took just Rs 500, paid through Paytm, and 10 minutes “in which an ‘agent’ of the group running the racket created a ‘gateway’ for this correspondent and gave a login ID and password”.

You could enter any Aadhaar number in the portal, and instantly get all particulars that an individual may have submitted to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), including one’s name, address, postal code, photo, phone number and email, the newspaper found.

A screenshot from the report on The Tribune‘s website.

UIDAI officials in Chandigarh reportedly expressed shock over the data being accessed, when the paper reported the matter, and admitted that it seemed to be a major national security breach.

It is suspected that over a lakh village-level enterprise operators hired by the ministry of electronics and IT for the task of making Aadhaar cards have got illegal access to UIDAI data.

On Thursday, Deccan Chronicle carried a report saying the UIDAI had “denied the media report” that said Aadhaar cards can be bought on WhatsApp for nominal charges.

“‘Rs 500, 10 minutes, and you have access to billion Aadhaar details’ is a case of misreporting,” the UIDAI said.