Delhi saw 710% rise in credit card theft

ATM fraud is becoming common because users are clueless about cyber security.

There has been a 710% increase in credit card frauds and 1,235% rise in online frauds in the past four years, according to the latest data by Delhi Police. The number of credit card frauds reported to the Delhi Police was 10 in 2013, 21 in 2014, 56 in 2015 and 81 till September 2016. In the case of online frauds, 38 incidents were reported in 2013, 152 in 2014, 656 in 2015 and 507 till September 2016. While cybercrime experts point out the inefficiency of the police in handling such cases and low conviction rate, they also point out towards the lack of data on ATM frauds that have gained momentum in the capital.

No particular reason was given by the police for the rise in the number of incidents, but a senior police official speaking about the overall situation of cybercrime in the capital said, “Until a decade ago, ATM, credit or debit cards, online banking and social media etc. were not as popular as they are today. This should be taken in perspective that the emergence of cybercrime is a comparatively new phenomenon.”

Speaking about the role that police can play in curbing the problem, Pawan Duggal, a cybercrime law expert, said: “Delhi Police lacks in detection, investigation and prosecution of cases that relate to cyber security. Collecting the right electronic evidence is most important to ensure the strength of the case, but the police at times does not use a good piece of electronic evidence to solve the case because they do not know what will further their investigation. Lack of capacity building is a big problem. When the right investigation is not done, how can you expect conviction? Once the conviction rate goes up, the troublemakers won’t dare take law as a joke.”

Apart from online and credit card frauds, ATM frauds, too, have become rampant in the capital, but there is no substantial data to ascertain the exact numbers. Duggal said, “ATM fraud is becoming more common than you realise. The reason is that the large middle class population that now uses ATM is clueless about cyber security and the means a fraudster uses to cheat them. There are a variety of manifestations of ATM fraud like hacking into ATM machine, using an external device for skimming, simply peeping over the shoulder to read finger movements or installing an unwarranted CCTV camera in the ATM booth, ATM card cloning etc.”

There is no compiled data on ATM theft with the Delhi Police even as the capital has witnessed a steep rise in cybercrime. The two categories of online fraud and credit card theft under which the Delhi Police released little data reinstates that fraudsters have remained out of Delhi Police’s reach.

Speaking about the SBI’s decision to block its 6.25 lakh debit cards after “suspicious transactions” were tracked over two weeks ago, experts said that hacking the ATM machine network and infecting it with virus was the reason behind it and pro-active approach of the bank likely prevented a larger breach, but this should be a good enough reason for the police to initiate strict actions to detect such elements.

In a related incident, a group of 8-10 army soldiers in Dwarka became victims of card cloning after which they also approached the South-west DCP, but no action has been taken on the matter so far. In another incident, a skimmer device was found hidden behind the smoke detector in an ATM booth.

Due to a rise in such incidents, banks have been taking precautionary measures by regularly reminding customers to change their passwords and to never share their card details to prevent cloning and skimming cases. A lack of pedestrian-friendly roads is risking the lives of thousands of people who walk on Indian roads every day, according to a recent study.

A study published by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in 2013 and 2015 shows that pedestrians account for almost 25% of the total deaths that occur on Indian roads daily. However, experts say the figure can be much more than projected as many deaths go unreported.

Vinod Kumar Kanumala, Chief Functionary of the Indian Federation of Road Safety, an NGO working in the field of road safety, told The Sunday Guardian that pedestrians are the most vulnerable on roads in India because both the state and the central governments have failed to provide adequate infrastructure for pedestrian movement anywhere in the country; rather, the governments’ focus has been towards infrastructure development for motor vehicles.

“Proper infrastructure of roads is very important for road safety, and pedestrians also amount for a very important part of road transport; yet, their safety is being ignored by the governments’ as if they do not constitute a part of road transport. But the reality is that 15% of the total road traffic constitutes