ATM forgery raises alert

Banks asked to take steps to ensure security

With plastic money gaining currency in Bangladesh, debit and credit card forgery has been on the rise. Last Friday, Eastern Bank Ltd (EBL) detected 21 suspicious card transactions. The number of such cases, up in the last six years, could have been prevented with careful measures taken by banks, believe experts. However, banks remain seemingly nonchalant on the issue. The Detective Branch of Police in July 2013 busted a gang of four for stealing around Tk 2 crore from ATMs of different banks in Dhaka. Of them, two were IT experts at Mutual Trust Bank, one from Advanced Data Network and the fourth one, the gang leader, was a former employee of Aamra Technologies. In June 2012, a credit card scam involving over Tk 10 crore was detected at the United Commercial Bank (UCB). The bank identified four of its top and mid-ranking officials, who withdrew the amount from the UCB using 21 credit cards between 2007 and 2012.
In almost all cases of card fraud, bank employees were found to be involved either directly or indirectly, providing fraudsters information about clients.
Talking to The Independent, Tapan Kanti Sarkar, President of Chief Technology Officers (CTO) forum, said the forgery took place because of the poor monitoring system in place by the banks. Sarkar, who is also the CTO of the National Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank Ltd, remarked that according to the Bangladesh Banks’s monitoring guidelines, it is mandatory for ATM booths to have CCTV cameras installed, so that banks could monitor the transactions closely. Any abnormal activity inside the booth should have been spotted by the bank.
“Debit and credit card forgery is a common security problem in developed countries, where maximum financial transactions take place with plastic money, instead of paper currency,” he said.
ATM cards are vulnerable to fraudulence, remarked Sarkar. When a consumer takes out cash, they need their ATM card and a pin code. The card does not have chip-and-pin protection and all of the information is stored on a magnetic strip, which is an old technology,

he said. “Most fraudsters use an old technique called skimming, through which they attach a device that is difficult to detect, to the ATM. When you feed your ATM card, the attached device skims the data from the magnetic strip,” he explained.
Sarkar said that typically a camera is also added to the ATM machine, so the fraudster can record the card’s pin code. A new debit card can be created using the information skimmed from the magnetic strip.
Combined with the pin code, the manufactured card can be used to withdraw cash from ATMs. It is much easier to attach skimming devices at ATMs located in different places other than at bank locations, which is why the former are most vulnerable, he added.
Sarkar also clarified that the trend of forgery is not related to the National Payment Switch (NPS), with which the banks of the country are interconnected. He said, “NPS uses the highest level of internet security as the safety in online financial transaction is very hard to breach.” Of the 56 banks operating in the country, 48 are connected with NPS, according to Bangladesh Bank.
Mashrur Arefin, Additional Managing Director of City Bank Ltd told The Independent that ATM machines away from the bright lights and cameras of a bank’s branch are at a higher risk of fraud. He recommended, “Many banks provide the option of signing up for two-factor authentication, which means that a username and password is not sufficient for signing into your account. You also need to have a text message sent to your phone, or an email sent to your account.”
Shuvankar Saha, Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank (BB) told The Independent that an enquiry team from the Central bank had been sent to the three banks—EBL, United Commercial Bank (UCB) and The City Bank—to check for negligence on part of the banks. After the investigation, Saha revealed that the BB issued a circular yesterday, stating “We believe there was some sort of negligence on the bank’s part in monitoring the transaction in the ATM booth,” he said.
In the circular, said Saha, the BB has asked all banks to install an anti-skimming device and pin-shield device to prevent ATM forgery. “We have also made it mandatory to check the video footage of the CCTV camera of the ATM booth on a regular basis to check for any abnormal activities,” he said. He added that the BB circular made an SMS alert after a withdrawal compulsory rather than optional.

ATM forgery raises alert

Banks asked to take steps to ensure security

With plastic money gaining currency in Bangladesh, debit and credit card forgery has been on the rise. Last Friday, Eastern Bank Ltd (EBL) detected 21 suspicious card transactions. The number of such cases, up in the last six years, could have been prevented with careful measures taken by banks, believe experts. However, banks remain seemingly nonchalant on the issue. The Detective Branch of Police in July 2013 busted a gang of four for stealing around Tk 2 crore from ATMs of different banks in Dhaka. Of them, two were IT experts at Mutual Trust Bank, one from Advanced Data Network and the fourth one, the gang leader, was a former employee of Aamra Technologies. In June 2012, a credit card scam involving over Tk 10 crore was detected at the United Commercial Bank (UCB). The bank identified four of its top and mid-ranking officials, who withdrew the amount from the UCB using 21 credit cards between 2007 and 2012. In almost all cases of card fraud, bank employees were found to be involved either directly or indirectly, providing fraudsters information about clients. Talking to The Independent, Tapan Kanti Sarkar, President of Chief Technology Officers (CTO) forum, said the forgery took place because of the poor monitoring system in place by the banks. Sarkar, who is also the CTO of the National Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank Ltd, remarked that according to the Bangladesh Bankss monitoring guidelines, it is mandatory for ATM booths to have CCTV cameras installed, so that banks could monitor the transactions closely. Any abnormal activity inside the booth should have been spotted by the bank. Debit and credit card forgery is a common security problem in developed countries, where maximum financial transactions take place with plastic money, instead of paper currency, he said. ATM cards are vulnerable to fraudulence, remarked Sarkar. When a consumer takes out cash, they need their ATM card and a pin code. The card does not have chip-and-pin protection and all of the information is stored on a magnetic strip, which is an old technology, he said. Most fraudsters use an old technique called skimming, through which they attach a device that is difficult to detect, to the ATM. When you feed your ATM card, the attached device skims the data from the magnetic strip, he explained. Sarkar said that typically a camera is also added to the ATM machine, so the fraudster can record the cards pin code. A new debit card can be created using the information skimmed from the magnetic strip. Combined with the pin code, the manufactured card can be used to withdraw cash from ATMs. It is much easier to attach skimming devices at ATMs located in different places other than at bank locations, which is why the former are most vulnerable, he added. Sarkar also clarified that the trend of forgery is not related to the National Payment Switch (NPS), with which the banks of the country are interconnected. He said, NPS uses the highest level of internet security as the safety in online financial transaction is very hard to breach. Of the 56 banks operating in the country, 48 are connected with NPS, according to Bangladesh Bank. Mashrur Arefin, Additional Managing Director of City Bank Ltd told The Independent that ATM machines away from the bright lights and cameras of a banks branch are at a higher risk of fraud. He recommended, Many banks provide the option of signing up for two-factor authentication, which means that a username and password is not sufficient for signing into your account. You also need to have a text message sent to your phone, or an email sent to your account. Shuvankar Saha, Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank (BB) told The Independent that an enquiry team from the Central bank had been sent to the three banksEBL, United Commercial Bank (UCB) and The City Bankto check for negligence on part of the banks. After the investigation, Saha revealed that the BB issued a circular yesterday, stating We believe there was some sort of negligence on the banks part in monitoring the transaction in the ATM booth, he said. In the circular, said Saha, the BB has asked all banks to install an anti-skimming device and pin-shield device to prevent ATM forgery. We have also made it mandatory to check the video footage of the CCTV camera of the ATM booth on a regular basis to check for any abnormal activities, he said. He added that the BB circular made an SMS alert after a withdrawal compulsory rather than optional.