Warikoo shares ATM PIN with his driver - Should you? Experts say 'avoid it'

Experts explain the financial, legal and digital risks of sharing passwords and the safer alternatives they may consider

Ankur Warikoo was praised and criticised when he said on X that his long-time driver knows his ATM PIN and uses it to run the Gurugram-based businessman’s family errands.

 

People praised Warikoo for treating his employee with dignity and paying him well. Others questioned the wisdom of admitting that a person outside the family has access to sensitive banking information, calling it “risky”, “legally unsafe” and “bad financial hygiene”.

 

The mixed reaction raises the question: Is sharing an ATM PIN safe, even if the physical card is not handed over?

 

Experts agree that divulging an ATM or Unified Payments Interface (UPI) passwords is unsafe.

 

“Sharing an ATM PIN with anyone, even if the card is not handed over, is never a safe idea,” said Anup Agarwal, cofounder of Kiwi, a payments app. It is the last layer of defence and “once the PIN is known, the chances of misuse rise sharply because most fraud today begins with small pieces of leaked information”.

 

Agarwal added that while UPI requires device binding and authentication, sharing a UPI PIN “creates an unnecessary risk” because someone with brief access to your phone can authorise payments.

 

Rohit Jain, managing partner at Singhania & Co., said the risk becomes acute the moment someone gains even temporary access to the physical card. “Having the ATM PIN can be the first step towards unauthorised withdrawals… and banks may deny reimbursement by citing customer negligence,” he said.

 

“Once a PIN is disclosed, the account holder’s protection under the RBI’s customer liability framework is effectively lost,” said B Shravanth Shanker, a Supreme Court advocate, referring to the Reserve Bank of India.

 

He cited a case involving a woman in Bengaluru who had shared her PIN with her husband was denied compensation for a malfunctioning ATM because the card’s non-transferability condition had been violated.

 

Experts urge households and employers to avoid sharing credentials altogether.

A structured reimbursement model is the safest option, said Shanker, adding that it “keeps the employer’s banking credentials completely secure and creates a clean audit trail”. Prepaid cards, add-on cards or limited-balance accounts also reduce risk.

 

Jain recommended frequent PIN changes, transaction alerts and using a separate account with capped balances when delegation is unavoidable. “Sharing a PIN should be the last resort,” said Alay Razvi, managing partner at Accord Juris.