ATM fraudsters auction data abroad, says SBI official

ATM fraud is an organised crime with international linkages for procurement of hi-tech gadgets and auction of data, Mr M S S Srinivas, Additional General Manager, SBI Switch Centre Mumbai said today.

“The fraudsters procure skimmers to copy ATM card data from as far as Ukraine and lately stolen ATM card data are auctioned at an international market,” Mr Srinivas said in an awareness programme on ATM frauds here.

A pinhole camera on the skimmer placed inside the card slot was used by culprits to read PIN number, he said.

The authorities had detected 29 Canara Bank ATMs fitted with skimmers in Chennai and eight in Bangalore recently. The fraudsters had stolen in 1.5 lakh data and sold them off to Russia, he said.

They used different techniques like tampering of ATM keypads, swapping of cards of unsuspecting customers and by using skimmers to copy the card data.

While ATM machine is built with maximum security and in-built camera, Mr Srinivas said low awareness among customers, online real time operations and anonymous identity accepted in case of CNP (Card not Present) transactions were some of the challenges faced by banks.

The SBI official has also advised ATM users change PIN numbers of their bank cards in frequent intervals to avoid frauds.