Think before swiping your debit card

Team Udayavani, Apr 14, 2019, 4:32 PM IST

Udupi: Nowadays instances of debit card fraud through online is on the rise. For this, even Udupi district which known as the district of the intelligent is no exception.

In the modern era, along with the growth in social media and technology, crime cases are also on the rise. Frauds occurring through online shopping faced a break to an extent with the implementation of OTP which brought down cyber crime cases. But with the development of technology, the thieves too are becoming smarter. They are no smart enough to produce a new ATM card by hacking and collecting ATM information.

City dwellers, the target

In Udupi district, more than rural area dwellers it’s the people from the city who are targeted. Presently, doing transactions online or via debit card is considered to be a sign of prestige. By capitalizing on this, the thieves are making off with the money in the account of the customer without their knowledge. It is surprising to note that, the likelihood of those falling prey to such traps are mostly those who consider themselves as educated.

Think before swiping

An incident took place at a famous shopping mall in the district where the number of the debit card was stolen while it was being swiped, a duplicate card was made and lakhs of rupees were lost to the thief.

How is information stolen?

The information regarding the credit or debit card being used by the customer is stolen by none other than the swiping machine itself. The information scanned by the swiping machine is stolen by using swipe hacking machine procurable from abroad. Thus, the stolen information is provided to hackers in Bengaluru. Using this information, duplicate cards are created and the money in the accounts of the actual customer is stolen within moments.

Online fraud

There are duplicate websites created in the name of reputed companies through which customers are cheated. Recently a woman from Koteshwar in Kundapur taluk was cheated online of Rs 2.75 lakh in the guise of providing Patanjali treatment.

Fall in OTP fraud cases

The number of cases wherein customers are cheated by procuring OTP from them have fallen completely. Currently the general public has awareness regarding OTP. They are giving complaints to Udupi Cyber Crime Branch regarding calls asking for OTP.

Stealing the password of debit and credit cards has become very easy. The instances where lakhs of rupees is stolen from the customer by procuring information of the card being used by the customer is on the rise and thus, it is advisable that the customer conduct ones transaction with care. In case of suspicion, immediately inform the cyber crime branch and thus help in bringing down the number of crime cases.

Difficult to locate the accused

Since the last year, close to 30 cases have been registered with Udupi Cyber Crime which are also under investigation. In some cases, the transferred money has been recovered. But it has nopt been possible to identify the accused.

Money recovered

If a cyber fraud occurs due to the mistake of the bank, the lost money is re—credited. The customer will receive relief only when the bank fails to properly manage its online and mobile banking facilities. In case, the customer themselves disclose the OTP of account details due to which they lose their money, no relief will be provided.

Money withdrawn within 5 minutes

Normally, those using duplicate ATM cards will use it in the night between 11:58 and 12 pm. During this time, since the customer is asleep, the bank of the police are not alerted immediately and the hence the thieves capitalize on this opportunity. The thieves withdraw thousands of rupees within a gap of 5 minutes.

New method

“There is a network wherein the customers are being duped through various helpline numbers. It has come to notice that the customer’s account information is gathered with the guise of providing them with new or better service. People need to be careful in this regard,” warns Sitaram, Cyber Crime Inspector, Udupi