Beware! Your card may be cloned and swiped abroad

After various incidents of fraudulent transactions in India through fake bank calls, there is now a new way by which fraudsters are extracting money out of your cards by cloning and then swiping them in another country to avoid being caught. In a recent case, a home ministry official complained to the Delhi Police about her card being cloned and used at an apparel store in the United States. The transactions were also made in US dollars equivalent to Rs. 67,000. The complainant alleged that she got to know about the incident on 7^th June when she received various alerts and OTP messages post-midnight of transactions at different US-based stores. However, the aggrieved woman could not block the transactions since it happened late at night. Soon enough, the bank suspected unusual transactions and blocked the card for a few minutes. It was shocking for the woman as she had her phone and card all the while that the money was being transacted in the US. The police suspect that the fraudsters use a device called the skimmer that is fitted to a card swiping machine and copies the card details while it is being swiped and stores it in a memory unit. Thereafter, the card can be used for online transactions. Such devices are generally imported from China and are available at a minimal cost.