Curbs on ATM withdrawals put brakes on debit card frauds

It may only be a temporary phase, fear police officials

Thanks to Centre’s ceiling of Rs.2,000 on all card transactions at ATMs, the number of online/debit/credit frauds reported in the city has come down by more than half since November 8. While the Cyber Crime department usually gets 5 to 6 complaints a day, only a handful have come since the restrictions were put on ATM withdrawals.

In most cases, after accessing online bank account or debit card details of a person, cyber criminals transfer money to their own accounts and withdraw the cash from ATMs. “However, now they will not be able to withdraw the whole amount and just Rs.2,000 a day even if they manage to scam someone. That is why the cases have come down,” said Raghuveer, ACP, Cyber Crime, CCS, Hyderabad.

Online transfers

While this might be a temporary phase, officials from the Rachakonda and Cyberabad cyber crime cells said that online fraudsters might also start transferring money to foreign accounts, which will be nearly impossible to trace. “They might have agents there, who will get a commission to divert money from a victim’s account. The accounts can be in any country and may not be specifically restricted to a few,” said a senior official.

Matrimonial frauds, debit card frauds (wherein criminals call up victims claiming to be bank officials), lottery scams etc are some of the most common types of crimes committed. In some cases, victims are asked to deposit money into the accounts of the fraudsters, which is later withdrawn from ATM machines, said the official, unwilling to be identified.

“The only other option now is to use e-wallets of online shopping websites to divert cash and to then use it to purchase things online from websites like Amazon or Flipkart,” pointed out the official. However, if cash is diverted that way, to an e-wallet, the transaction can be reversed and the money can be retrieved if the police are informed within four hours, said Mr. Raghuveer.