Banks officials, cops find difficulty in solving fake credit card cases

The city bank officials are finding difficulty in solving fake credit card cases. According to banks the central crime branch of the city police who have some technical expertise in handling these cases but is not fully equipped to track fake credit card cases. The accused arrested in such cases are generally the ones used by the racketeers for purchasing goods using fake credit cards. The main masterminds are absconding.

There has been rise in complaints about fake credit cards therefore banks have started fraud prevention training program for all card-accepting merchants in the city to educate them on differentiating between a fake credit card and a genuine one.

"We are providing training to all card-accepting merchants in a phased manner and plan to cover all the merchants in the city in a year's time. We tell them how to identify a fake card from an original one. Credit cards have security features which are difficult to duplicate. They are also told how to observe the customer's behavior, and if they have any suspicion, how to contact the bank without letting the customer know about it," the official added.

After taking up this training, recently a merchant in Chennai was able to trap a youth easily who had come to purchase consumer goods using a fake card in September. "The youth was carrying an SBI card with a magnetic strip that contained the credit card data of a foreign card. The merchant cross-checked it with the bank and called the police. The youth was arrested, but the masterminds are yet to be traced and arrested," the official said.

Bank officials of credit card fraud investigation wing said fake credit card case investigation is a very cumbersome process. "We have to identify where the card details had been skimmed from. So we ask the customer to provide details of all the recent transactions he had made. In most cases, we get a foreign merchant address among the last few transactions and we presume that the card data could have been stolen from there," an official from the card fraud investigation wing of a private bank said.

”It is difficult to physically visit all the merchants involved in billing as they would be spread across the country or even abroad. So, police do not show much enthusiasm in following up the case. The maximum they do is arrest the runners. Masterminds behind the racket, which is thriving in Chennai, are still carrying on with the business," he said.

On enquiring from M Paneerselvam, assistant commissioner, bank fraud wing, CCB, he replied, "We have limitations in counterfeit card case investigations as the masterminds are usually based in foreign countries. Most often the misused data belong to credit cards of foreign nationals and it is difficult for us to get his version. There usually would not be a complaint. The hands of foreign nationals are involved in stealing of data from Chennai customers as in most cases the data would have been skimmed in a foreign country."

He informed that police is able to arrest only the small fraudsters who use the fake cards for purchase in the city.

Earlier in November, the credit card details of a leading bank’s assistant general manager in Chennai were misused. Someone had booked the flight ticket from Hyderabad to Kochi by using his credit card details. The bank officials were able to track about the misuse and two persons were arrested at the Kochi airport with the help of police.

In November one more case came into limelight where the credit card wing of a private bank came to know of a credit card misuse in Coimbatore and, with the help of police, a runner was arrested. The prime mastermind behind the scam, with the help of the arrested accused had purchased goods worth more than Rs 50 lakh using credit cards.

A bank official informed, "We handed over the accused to B4 police station in Coimbatore, but they did not arrest him. He was let off after recording a statement".

Pune in top in credit card fraud list

All over the world credit card frauds are increasing, but in India Pune is on the top.

On Saturday at ClubHack 2008 – the international convention of hackers was organized in Pune. While speaking at the convention on “Economic Offences through Credit Card Frauds Dissected” Harshad Patil, computer security expert told Pune has been the worst victim of credit card fraud in the country in 2007-08.

In an interview Patil told The Indian Express, “As per a survey by Google on credit card frauds in the world, Pune suffered the most in India with Mumbai coming second. Lack of awareness among card users is the major reason for the significant rise in the frauds”.

He added, “There is an international racket of cyber criminals. Credit card information in India is sold to cyber criminals in other countries. The information is misused for carrying out major financial frauds”.

He further said, “There are various ways like phishing, pharming, skimming and dumpster diving by which money can be extracted from your credit card. Due to lack of awareness, people submit personal details and credit card information to fraudulent emails. Sometimes, fraudsters steal credit card information. Some fraudsters go through trash to find discarded receipts or carbon for obtaining information and then use the account number illegally”.

He informed there were secretive “carder” forums where credit card numbers are bought and sold. These forums bring together people who steal the numbers and those who use them. Patil an individual researcher in cyber crime and cyber laws said economic offences using credit cards have increased in India and countries like US. According to FBI report that credit cards were largely responsible for the $ 315 billion loss the US underwent from financial fraud in 2005. As per study carried out in Europe over 22 million customers had fallen victim to credit card fraud in 2006. “The numbers are increasing,” said Patil.

“The frauds are increasing because of problem faced in extradition of cyber criminals from other countries,” he added. During the panel discussion on cyber terrorism at the hacker’s convention, cyber law expert Rohas Nagpal pointed out India is so far not associated with any extradition treaty with a foreign country due to which the cyber criminals in country can not be held. US expert Chris Goggans said even US is facing difficulties in extradition of criminals.

New credit card technology for secure online transactions

Online transactions are becoming more and more unsecured as credit card fraudsters are none other than computer experts. For online transactions you use password but this password is no longer safe therefore to keep off the hackers into your mail accounts you can have another password.

Dr Shekhar Kirani, Vice-President of Verisign Services India Private Limited, in an interview told Business Line, “With hackers and mischief mongers breaking into mail accounts and sniffing transaction details, it is better to have the second password, or the Second Factor, to thwart their attacks.”

Dr Kirani had come to Hyderabad to take part in the two-day data security conference organized by theb National Association of Software and Services Companies last week.

Verisign, is a global leader in providing secure online solutions, is developing a credit-card sized Second Factor tokens to be launched in the Indian market.

In this process each time a user presses a thumb-sized mark on the card, he or she will get a six-digit number that will work as a second password. “The card can produce n-number of such passwords, exclusive to the user whose identity would be known to the bank’s transaction mechanism via the Verisign database,” he said.

Currently company is having talks with various banks and financial institutes to introduce the card. He further added, “As the usage increases, the same card could be used to generate multiple Second Factor passwords for different banks”.

He informed, “We are in talks with 150 banks, small and big, in India. Talks with 30 are in advanced stage”.

The inimitability about the technology is that the password created will stay for just 30 seconds.

He explained, “This will thwart remote access to passwords of bank accounts and other e-commerce sites. If hackers sitting in remote areas still want to break into your accounts, they need to physically steal the token cards that contain the other password. This, in fact, reduces the probability of hacking”.

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Auto rickshaws to be upgraded pay with your credit card

Preparations are on full swing for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games to be held in 2010. During that time autos will be just a call away. Moreover the autos are being upgraded so that the passengers can swipe their credit cards for making payment as the renovated autos will be equipped with many facilities, including newspapers and water bottles, for the comfort and safety of passengers.

Auto rickshaw popularly known as “common man's radio taxi", the Urban Development Ministry as a pilot project, first of its kind in the country, equipping auto rickshaws with GPS-based systems is launching in Pune on November 29.

Under this project, the commuters can call a control room or send SMS for hiring autos and they will get a receipt after paying the prescribed fare.

"The project aims to provide safer last mile connectivity to passengers. Many cities including Delhi have shown interest in the project," Urban Development Secretary M Ramachandran told PTI.

The Urban Development Ministry is having discussions with different states as part of the national urban transport policy to offer better and comfortable mode of transportation to commuters.

In view of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, the Ministry is having talks with the Delhi government for the introduction of GPS-based auto rickshaws in the capital before October 2010.

While explaining the salient features of the project, Ramachandran said, "This is a scientific management of auto rickshaws. Since the movement of autos will be monitored by the control room and there will be very little scope of overcharging by drivers, the scheme will be beneficial for commuters especially for elderly and women."