The complaint lodged by the manager of the ICICI bank with the cyber cell alleging that Rs 7.07 lakh was skimmed from an ATM at Porvorim is the second case in a matter of days and is a stark reminder that bank security needs to be beefed up if customers are
to feel safe. The complaint stated that some unknown persons gained access into the ATM and fixed a skimmer to the machine. This exercise went unnoticed by the bank and no one detected any change in the look of the machine. In the meanwhile several customers were deprived of money in their accounts. Last week a Panaji-based bank reported the loss of Rs 6.51 lakh through a similar modus operandi and there is no
telling how long it will take before the culprits are arrested.
ATM theft might be new to Goa, but elsewhere it is almost routine. And the problem is that the bad guys are getting more sophisticated. Worse still, the technology to hack into ATMs is easily available and according to some reports could be purchased online for around $300. In October last year, three Romanian nationals were arrested in Mumbai
on charges of skimming around Rs 90 lakh from an ATM in Bandra.
Once they were behind bars, 12 other police stations in the metro requested their custody to probe similar thefts in their jurisdictions. Given the amount of cash withdrawn from accounts the Goa thefts seem like a low intensity affair which could easily be scaled up
if the police are unable to crack the case. ATMs have come under the scanner for security issues and it might be recalled that some years back a lady customer was assaulted by an assailant who pulled down the shutter. Then, card-based entry, which used to be the norm, was debated threadbare, but banks failed to repair the same and till today customers can walk in and out of ATM enclosures without a card. The banks explained that the technology was too expensive and unless customers pay a fee it would be impossible to repair the same. Why no one thought of fitting the doors with old-fashioned latches is a mystery.
In November 2014 the Reserve Bank of India, under pressure
from bigger banks, issued guidelines and customers were allowed
3-5 free transactions per month with the rest drawing
a charge of Rs 20. Each bank tweaked the norms to suit their
operations, but safety measures did not improve and banks
did not bother to insulate their ATMs from skimmers. There
are reports that the quality of CCTV cameras is poor and of no
use to the investigating officers, but only a sweep with pick out
the faulty ones.
Although RBI guidelines are very clear that if money is stolen
from the bank’s custody then it will have to compensate
customers, banks are quiet on this safeguard and will not
cough up the money unless a complaint is filed and a direction
issued by the RBI. This means customers are left to cover
their backs. There are guidelines like using one hand to cover
the other while punching in the password and ensuring that
no one else is in the room when undertaking transactions, but
in the end the onus is on the customers. In the present two cases
it seems irregular that the banks did not undertake regular
checks of ATMs to detect the presence of skimmers and it is
time such measures are included in the checklist.
