The recent ATM fraud that came into the light in Goa has unearthed the scam of lakhs rupees stripped by the culprits. According to the police reports, nearly 62 people has lost their savings in this scam. Goa Cyber Crime Police have claimed that this is the work of an international group.
The banks in Goa had been instructed to upgrade their respective ATM security procedures to keep the culprits away. According to the police, the loot at the ATM is the work of international scammers who managed to dupe around 62 bank account holders in Goa till date. According to the police, The ATM card details stolen through the skimming process were used for withdrawing money in the Middle East and European countries. According to the news reported by the IANS news agency, Deputy Superintendent of police Serafin Dias has instructed the banks to upgrade their ATM security protocols to avoid further losses. The banks have also been instructed to close down all the unguarded ATMs in the rural areas.
[su_expand more_text=”READ MORE” less_text=” ” height=”0″ hide_less=”yes” link_style=”button” link_align=”center”] The cyber crime branch of Goa has stressed on the need of better security and CCTV surveillance system in the place at all the ATMs. The complaint was registered with the cyber crime branch stating that some unknown persons gained the unauthorized access to the ATM card details of multiple card holders which were used in the ATM machines of the ICICI bank at Porvorim branch. Later his same information was used to withdrawing the money from 23 different accounts amounting to rupees 7 lakh.
The process of stealing the money from the ATMs is known as a skimming and according to the sources under this skimming process the culprits inserts the slim gadget into the ATM card slots which gather all the crucial information pertaining to the ATM card, later the same information fed into the duplicate ATM card and later the same card accessed remotely to withdraw the money from the hacked accounts. “We have asked them to upgrade their security protocols and ensure that most ATMs have security guards stationed outside the kiosks. In places where guards are not posted, especially in rural and semi-urban areas, we have advised them to shut down the ATMs for the time being as a precaution,” Dias said. The banks were also asked to consider closing down unguarded cash dispensing machines, especially in rural areas.
The first reported incident of sophisticated ATM theft occurred in January this year at the local branch of Dena Bank. Since then ATMs belonging to other banks, including ICICI and Axis, have been “skimmed” remotely, police claim, blaming an international racket. According to the superintendent of police Karthik Kashyap, they have collected the data from some of the banks whose machines have been skimmed has suggested that the money has been withdrawn in UK and Bulgaria using the skimmed data. “It is quite surprising that the ATM card holders are from Goa but the money had been withdrawn from foreign countries. We are in the process of investigating the matter and police are also in the process of scanning the CCTV footages of affected ATMs targeted by the scammers.
During the course of the investigation, police obtained CCTV footages from ATM kiosks of the banks. However, there was no clear image as the suspected persons had covered their faces. The police said that now through a proper channel they will try to seek details from foreign countries from where the money was withdrawn, and it could take months.
The best practice to remain safe from this kind of fraud is to play safe. Do not use the ATM centers which are situated in remote areas and do not have CCTV cameras and security around. Always check the machine before inserting your cards in the ATM machine. If you witness any hidden camera near the ATM console please inform the same to the concern authorities. Changing the ATM pin could also work as the major safety measure. If you have any better suggestions on this serious issue please do share the same with us.
Source: Various Sources [/su_expand]
