e-fraudsters on the prowl as banking shifts online

With more and more people moving online for banking and other financial transactions, the institutions are upping their game to protect them – but so are the fraudsters. Phishing, skimming, and impersonating as bank officials, these criminals are constantly on the prowl, looking for gullible people to loot. Every time the police crack network and expose their modus operandi, they find newer ways to circumvent them.

The phasing out of magnetic strip cards, which were replaced by ones with chips embedded, were supposed to make transactions more secured. However, according to the sleuths of the Anti-Bank Fraud wing of the Greater Chennai Police’s Central Crime Branch, this is only one of the several avenues available for the fraudsters, especially after the advent of e-wallets like UPI and Paytm. The customers who are not tech-savvy are susceptible if the loopholes in the system are not addressed at the earliest, 

warned officers.

Citing an example, a senior officer from the wing said those wanting to use UPI e-wallet should be allowed to download the app and use it on their phone only if it is done on the same mobile phone that is linked with the bank account. While some like Indian Bank has put in place such a restriction, but not all banks have this, which makes their customers susceptible to phishing.

“The phisher can download the app on his phone and all the person would then require is the last six digits of the debit card and the expiry date to reset the password. Once he succeeds in this, there is no way of stopping him from stealing from different banks accounts linked to the e-wallets. In such cases, blocking the debit cards will not help, as these e-wallets are directly linked to the accounts. The bank accounts itself should be blocked,” said a senior officer from the anti-bank fraud wing of the CCB told DT Next.

One specific group of people who are vulnerable to phishers are the ones desperate for loans. So despondent are they that many of them don’t think twice before sharing their Aadhaar and PAN card numbers, and bank account details, said CCB officers. “Promising to arrange loans for them, the callers make the victims deposit money in their bank account and loot the money by creating e-wallet accounts without their knowledge,” said another officer.

“In most such cases, the onus will be upon neither the customer or the banks, but insurance firms as they end up compensating the loss,” said an official.

S Senthil Kumar, a senior official with IndusInd Bank and ex-chairman of Indian Payment Card Risk Council (IPCRC), said the banks have been making continuous efforts to ensure that customers’ money was safe, adding that the people should be little more careful of how their personal details are leaked to fraudsters.

“Banks keep sending awareness mails, SMSes and even make calls. But it has become so common that people have started treated them as spam and do not care to spend time reading it,” he said.

Unlike earlier days, he added, each bank now has a fraudsters management team working round the clock to monitor phishing. Also, action is taken against bank employees if found to be responsible for compromising customers’ credentials. “Private banks in particular enforce this in a strict manner and employees are answerable to loss of even a rupee, as the Reserve Bank of India has taken up inquiries at the individual level. But customers should be more careful from their end to not to fall victims.”

According to him, the customers should make sure that their mobile phones are safe device. There are apps that steal data as the details are typed on the phone. “So the phones should be protected by legit anti-virus software, and customers should not mind spending a few hundreds to save their hard-earned savings,” added Senthil Kumar.

“There is no doubt that e-wallets have made banking easier for the people. It will soon become more secure.”