1,700 card, net banking-related frauds worth Rs 714.8 mn reported in 2017

Over 1,700 cases of fraud related to credit/debit card and Internet banking with the extent of losses touching Rs 714.8 million were reported in 2017, Parliament was informed on Friday.

A total of 1,785 cases related to credit/debit card and Internet banking for amounts involving Rs 1,00,000 and more were reported last year, Minister of State for Electronics and IT K J Alphons said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

He added that the extent of losses in these cases totalled Rs 714.8 million.

In December 2017 alone, 187 cases with losses touching Rs 337.3 million was reported, the minister said.

"The extent of loss due to fraud in December 2017 appears to be high but as per the data available at RBI website, during the month, the value of card usage at ATMs and Point of Sale (POS) terminals was Rs 3,469.97 billion," he explained.

Thus, the extent of losses due to fraud in December 2017 is only 0.009 per cent of the value of transactions, he added.

Alphons said RBI is taking adequate measures for risk mitigation in online payments.

Also, banks and payment system operators have been advised to enhance the security and risk mitigation measures for card transactions (including card-based online transactions), he added.

In response to another question, Alphons said as per information received from RBI, 30,222 incidents of phishing/vishing, OTP compromise, fraud by compromise of user credentials, compromise of mobile phone numbers of customers were reported in October-December 2017.

He added that 16,128 incidents were reported in June 2017 quarter, while the number rose to 20,753 in the following quarter.

"In addition, RBI also received 2 complaints regarding ATM cloning and e-wallet scam involving bank accounts in branches of public and private sector banks," he said.