Contactless cards are more vulnerable: Cops

Tell public to secure cards in carbon-coated pouches

City’s cybercrime police warned the public to be cautious about fraudsters targeting ATM users with wireless tap option on debit or credit cards. As such cases have been reported in other cities, officials from Hyderabad cybercrime police asked the public to watch out for such fraudsters and invest in carbon pouches for ATM cards.

“Our counterparts in other cities, mostly in the north, have been registering cases of wireless bank card cloning this year, wherein the hackers used wireless devices to clone ATM cards from a distance,” a cybercrime official said.

“We have not received any such complaints so far, but the public must remain cautious with cyber frauds as they have been coming up with new ways to cheat the people,” said ACP of Rachakonda cybercrime S. Harinath.

“They use a PoS (point of sale) machine to pull off this fraud, which can be concealed in a small bag and can be obtained by anyone with a fake ID, though only registered vendors are supposed to avail them. These machines can detect wireless cards from the pocket itself. Though there has not been any case reported in the city, there is a scope of getting cheated and losing your money. Prevention is the only cure in cybercrimes and we suggest the public invest in carbon coated pouches, which would prevent the detection and block the signals,” explained the official.

He added that those who complain about carbon coated pouches being heavy could end up paying dearly later. “We need to travel with technology as it might be too late to receive an SMS of a transaction after losing your money. In a crowded country like India, it might be hard even to trace the culprit, who can easily conceal the device in a bag and operate to siphon funds,” concluded the official.