The next time you prefer internet for banking transactions, beware. The Banking Ombudsman of the State has reported a spurt in the number of complaints relating to internet banking transactions involving phishing and compromise of security information.
With mobile phones increasingly used for communications and obtaining one-time passwords for internet-based banking, the know your customer standards by mobile telecom operators, especially while issuing the duplicate SIM cards, is now emerging as an area of concern for the bankers.
“Instances of fraudsters intercepting one-time passwords by obtaining duplicate SIM cards of bank customers have been reported,” State Banking Ombudsman N. Krishna Mohan said.
As the fraudsters secure information from duplicate SIM cards, genuine owners would feel difficulties in using their mobiles, but it was not the problem with the network as was generally felt.
“As a result, the transaction details will land first be sent to the duplicate SIM and then, they will land on the genuine subscribers mobile,” Dr. Krishna Mohan said.
He attributed this to the ‘poor KYC norms’ of the telecom operators was one reason behind the frauds. This mandated joint efforts by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Reserve Bank of India to evolve solutions to check such frauds. There were also reports of frauds in the internet banking side as viruses at the back-end go undetected.
“It’s a general feeling that transactions carried out from our houses are secure. But viruses at the bank end are capable of transmitting information to remote locations,” he said. RBI had directed the banks to replace the existing magnetic strips on cards with electronic chips.
