Installing skimmers and untraceable cameras inside the ATM kiosk is the latest trend
_0_1.gif "Hyderabad: ATM fraudsters use new methods")
ATM fraudsters use new methods
Hyderabad: ATM fraudsters are coming up with new techniques to defraud the public making things difficult for commoners. Installing skimmers and untraceable cameras inside the ATM kiosk is the latest trend.
Sardar Amarjeet Singh, an IT professional, recently withdrew Rs 2,000 from the ATM kiosk of a private bank at Bonthapally in Hydera-bad. He got a message for that transaction.
However, after half-an-hour, he got another message that took him by surprise. “After half an hour I got a message about another transaction in Mahara-shtra,” said the victim. In the last 11 months.
0ver 120 such cases have been reported in Hyderabad. In January 2014 in Goa a Mumbai-based gang cloned 50 to 60 ATM cards of Oriental Bank, Life Style Building, Greenlands, Begum-pet, Hyderabad and withdrew Rs 7 lakh from different bank ATMs.
ATM skimmers generally store the data they capture on the device itself. The criminals have to come back and retrieve the skimmer to get the data. Some ATM skimmers are now transmitting this data over bluetooth.
In November the Punjagutta police arrested two members of the Mumbai-based skimmer gang. Around half a dozen members of the gang are yet to be arrested.
Unmanned ATms targeted:
In all the cases reported till now the crooks targeted unmanned ATM centres especially the ones in isolated areas. As the process of fixing skimmers requires at least half-an-hour it can’t be done if the centre is guarded.
Following reports on ATM crimes the cops have issued notices requesting banks to increase security. They asked banks to deploy guards and install surveillance cameras. But banks consider it as a burden. Cops say live monitoring of surveillance cameras can be done by banks as an alternative.
After the horrific incident in Bengaluru in which a woman was attacked in an ATM kiosk the police had issued notices to the banks asking them to take safety measures. Though some have followed instructions others have to fall in line.
Senior police officials from West Zone said notices were issued but banks are reluctant to spent extra money on security personnel and have just installed surveillance cameras.
( Source : dc )
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