ATM fraud, card cloning cases on the rise in city

Amit Sharma 

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 12

Cases of debit and credit card fraud and card cloning are fast rising in the city. This is evident from the fact that close to 900 complaints of these two offences were received by the Cyber Crime Investigation Cell of the UT police, out of around 2,100 complaints of various offences.

The number of people, who have fallen victim to this crime, has gone up this year.

DSP Cyber Cell Rashmi Yadav said crimes related to bank accounts, including ATM frauds and cloning, are on the rise. The most common complaint they receive is that of phishing where customers are called by swindlers and asked for information related to their cards.

As per the statistics, out of 900 complaints related to debit and credit card fraud and card cloning, 600 were of debit and credit card frauds.

“Awareness among the people has led to increase in reporting of such cases following which complaints have gone high,” the DSP said.

The police say in such cases, fraudsters ask for information related to card and an OTP sent on the mobile number through which money is siphoned off.

Out of a total of 900 complaints, the Cyber Cell registered 12 cases related to debit and credit card fraud, while 42 cases of ATM cloning were registered by the police.

The DSP, Cyber Cell, stated that in a large number of cases, banks reimburse the money lost by their customer.

The success rate of the police in these cases is less. The police say they cannot do much because it’s tough to track the caller as they use bogus identities while making transactions.

“Shortage of manpower is the biggest hurdle we are facing. With only 45 police personnel in the wing, it’s quite impossible to send a team to trace the accused whose identities are not known,” said a police official.

130 cases registered this year 
Offence Cases 

Debit card and credit card-related frauds 12 
ATM cloning 42 
Duping on pretext of lottery or prize money 3
Cheating on pretext of investment in insurance, installing mobile towers, etc. 13
Online cheating on the pretext of offering job 1
Cheating by various online shopping portals 10
Creating fake websites, hacking emails etc 4
Harassment 8
Threatening, sending objectionable SMS, harassment 6
Data theft 6
Miscellaneous 25 

Two fresh cases

Ram Chander Sharma, a resident of Sector 38-C, alleged that an unknown person called on his mobile phone and asked his ATM card details. Later, he found that Rs 20,000 was withdrawn from his account through his ATM. In another case, Om Parkash, a resident of Sector 33, Chandigarh, alleged that an unknown person called him on his mobile and took his bank details. He withdrew money from his account. Cases have been registered.

Fact file

• As per the statistics, out of 900 complaints related to debit and credit card fraud and card cloning, 600 were of debit and credit card frauds.
• Out of 900 complaints, the Cyber Cell registered 12 cases related to debit and credit card fraud, while 42 cases of ATM cloning were registered by the police.