Digital frauds on the rise in Nellore

- Experts say customers can become victims of fraud with the use of skimmers or voluntary disclosure of PIN number
- They suggest customers use card consciously and enter the pin secretly. Also, customers should avoid handing over the card and disclosing the details

Collector Mutyala Raju says the AP Skill Development Corporation has been engaged in imparting knowledge on cashless transactions and providing tips to people from falling prey to frauds

Nellore: Someone at a hotel, petrol pump, or grocery shop can take your debit or credit card and quickly record the information with a swipe on some small device. Some fraudulent people may swipe the card twice. But, innocent people think that card is being swiped twice are part of digital transaction. Some others may have the habit of handing over valuable open wallet to the waiters for payment of a bill failing to forecast the imminent financial fraud. The negligence would allow the stealing data of the cardholder by using a skimmer. There is every need to educate people on digital transactions besides safety precautions while opting for cashless payments. In fact, though the administration has been educating on cashless transactions after demonetisation, people are still not aware of safe financial transactions.

Officials of the AP Skill Development Corporation are imparting training sessions to stakeholders but measures are inadequate to the present needs. Recently, a person from Vidavalur received a message that some amount was used for purchase. He realised the fact that it was used by a wrong person and contacted bank officials. They suggested him to visit the bank for further action. Meanwhile, an amount of Rs 1.2 lakh was withdrawn.

In fact, many people don’t know how swiping machines works and how to block the account with the help of a toll-free number of the concerned bank. Not only common people, even educated are not aware of possible frauds. Interestingly, even skimmer machines are being sold online by some commercial websites. They were being imported from China and have been used for stealing data of bank customers. Alibaba.com and other websites are providing information about manufacturers of PoS and skimmer machines across the globe that includes China, which is well-known in making such kind of equipment. “If there are two machines in a store at same spot, one will be possibly a skimmer. The skimmer is always an offline PoS placed in the store for collecting data of the customers. It looks like a genuine machine but will not communicate with any bank and is used only for skimming,” said a professional from Bangalore.

Experts say the skimmer is similar to a Point of Sale machine that is used for collecting data from the magnetic strip (black ribbon on the debit/credit card) and copies onto another blank card’s magnetic strip. This would enable them to make purchases or withdraw cash in the name of the actual account holder. Sometimes, fraudsters use mini Magnetic Strip Readers (MSR) for stealing data. District Collector R Mutyala Raju said they were imparting knowledge on digital transactions as part of encouraging people towards cashless purchases. The AP Skill Development Corporation has been engaged in providing tips on safety cashless transactions, he added.

P V Prasad