Kolkata, October 22 : Amid reports of widespread debit card security breaches, a senior State Bank of India official on Saturday said the passwords were compromised in majority of cases.
“I strongly believe password is being compromised and most cases are of false transactions,” Chief General Manager of State Bank of India, Bengal circle, Partha Pratim Sengupta told IANS.
SBI, the country’s largest commercial lender, has advised its customers to use the bank’s own Automated Teller Machine (ATM) network after the security breach of around six lakh debit cards issued by the bank.
“Prima facie information says a lot of password compromise is happening. But we are obviously looking into the audit trail and will check transaction history of all customers who have suffered to see if there is any kind of malware problem,” he said.
The bank had blocked the debit cards whose security was reportedly breached due to the malware attack.
Some of the country’s top private banks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and YES Bank among others too are facing similar issues and several of the customers’ debit cards are reportedly being compromised.
SBI on Wednesday had blocked close to six lakh debit cards following a malware-related security breach in a non-SBI ATM network.
Several other banks such as Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank too have admitted being hit by similar cyber attacks -- forcing Indian banks to either replace or request users to change the security codes of as many as 3.2 million debit cards over the last two months.
There were also reports of fraudsters robbing customers by of their bank deposits by calling them up and forcing them to give out details of debit cards on the threat of blocking the debit cards.
Sengupta cautioned customers not to divulge details like pin, card verification value, or any other identity information to anybody. “The bank will never ask for these details.”
Rajya Sabha member target of debit card fraud
Debit card fraudsters on Saturday sought to target a Member of Parliament even as Indian banks strive to tackle the scam that has led to almost 32 lakh debit cards being compromised across the country.
Communist Party of India-Marxist Rajya Sabha member Ritabrata Banerjee on Saturday received a call on his mobile phone from an unknown male caller who sought to know his Adhaar card details.
The caller was insistent on getting the details even when Banerjee told him he would contact his bank.
However, the fraudster disconnected the call the moment Banerjee told him that he would give the number to the police.
“I got a call this morning. As I had missed the call, I called back later. A man took the call and identified himself as a manager of the State Bank of India.”
“I asked him to name the area of his operation to which he replied ‘Bandra Branch’.”
“He addressed me as sir and had called to inform that the bank was blocking ATM cards across the country. He said that to activate my ATM card, I needed to follow some instructions,” Banerjee said.
The caller told Banerjee that he had been assigned by the bank for the job and needed details such as his Adhaar card number.
“I told him I will contact the bank. But he was insistent, saying he has been given the responsibility to talk to me.
“I said I was giving his number to the police right now. The moment I said that, the phone was disconnected.”
According to the MP, despite several efforts the number could not be reached later in the day. He has filed a complaint at a police station here.
In an unprecedented security breach affecting both private and state-run banks, 32 lakh debit cards are estimated to have been “compromised” by cyber malware attack in some ATM systems.
Fraudulent withdrawals have been reported from 19 banks so far. While several of these, including state-run State Bank of India, have recalled a large number of cards, others have blocked the ones suspected to have been compromised.
The miscreants have used the current confusion and widespread panic to call up gullible customers and clean up their money by threatening to block their cards and even close their accounts if they did not divulge their details.
