Rs. 1 Lakh fraudulently withdrawn using a copied debit card of mine

[rabjot_singh]

Hello,

I have been a client of your bank for last 6 years but it seems that now I would have to look out for better and safer options.

I would like to bring to your kind notice that someone created a duplicate copy of my ATM Debit card and carried a transaction of Rs 100,000 on the night of 4th May 2014 and the morning of 5th May 2014 between 11 pm and 5 am. And all this time my original debit card was with me. My Bank account no is 017701546166 (ICICI).

It is very unfortunate that in spite of all the claims of being secure and effective ICICI Bank Debit Card is vulnerable technologically and someone could easily create a copy of it. In view of the same I am bound to transfer my remaining funds from ICICI account to a more secure and reliable account of a different bank and shall close this existing account forever.

I have blocked the card now and have already lodged a complaint with ICICI Bank (No. 318515967). I also have filed a ‘Police complaint' (copy attached) and written a letter to ICICI MD as well.

On the basis of this terrible experience I would also convince all my relatives and friends to move to a better bank and snap all ties with ICICI Bank. I am also inclined to share this bad experience of mine with ICICI Bank through electronic and print media.

I wish to get a full refund of my money to prohibit me from taking any of the steps mentioned above and I seek your kind intervention in this matter so that I am suitably compensated as soon as possible.

Thanks and Regards
Rabjot

 

[expert]

Did you share your PIN anyway? Does anyone else could possibly have it?

 

[rabjot_singh]

No I never shared my pin with anyone.

I went to a nearby branch of the bank and the manager told me that it can happen nowadays when you swipe the debit card and put your pin in the machine everything can be copied during that.

It was a new card only 3 - 4 months old. What is the possibility of creation of a copy of the card at the time of its manufacturing because I never gave away my card to swipe to anyone and it has always happened only in front of my eyes.

 

[expert]

Your case is very serious and will affect millions of ATM users in India if you never shared your pin.

Did you pay at any merchant(shop, petrol pump etc) using your Debit card?

 

[rabjot_singh]

Yes. I know it shall affect many people and a similar incident happened with a Delhi guy 'Amit Kumar Ghosh' as well when some fraudsters withdrew 1.25 lakhs from his account and later he went to consumer court. ICICI Bank not only returned his amount but also payed a bonus of 50,000 on top of it.

I don't go out to restaurant's to eat food or anything and I only use my debit card at Petrol Pump and that too in presence of my eyes.

My card was issued in Nov 2013. I strongly think that the possibility of involvement of some ICICI Bank employee in this fraud cannot be ruled out.

 

[expert]

In India it is common to copy the card information at Petrol pumps since employees themselves earn Rs. 4-5000 only. They'd have seen your PIN too. Most likely that's it. Bank people can't see your pin, even in software. Such involvement is much more likely in case of PSU banks.

 

[rabjot_singh]

And what about the card being copied so easily. It's a technological fault from the side of the Bank. I entrusted them with my money and they have failed to ensure it's safety.

And remember one thing at any Petrol Pump there are 5 - 6 guys or even women standing near the Petrol outlets where card machines are kept. It is highly unlikely that all of them shall be corrupt and participate in the fraud.

And who can take the guarantee of the bank employee who keeps a record of money and transactions of the client.

 

[expert]

Debit card magnetic sequence and pin are not accessible to even ICICI bank managers. The IT is usually managed in such a way for banks that such there is no provision to see such sensitive information.

For example: your pin will be stored in encrypted way which can't be encrypted by even the most intelligent.

So if your pin is 1399 then it could be stored as dasf00-434mdmdsm,m,ds

How do they verify your PIN? Simple, encrypt it and if it matches with the stored encrypted string(dasf00-434mdmdsm,m,ds) then the PIN is correct.

 

[rabjot_singh]

What are the RBI Guidelines on such matters ?

What is a Point of Sale (POS) security mandate ? - like in my case the cash has been withdrawn from a ATM in Udaipur so that ATM ( here POS) shall be verified for compliance to security norms...?

 

[rabjot_singh]

As I understand whatever you mentioned above was for a chip based card and not a magnetic card.

Has RBI not made it mandatory for commercial banks to replace all the magnetic cards with chip cards as data on a chip based card is encrypted, making it more difficult to clone ? if yes, then why I was not informed or contacted by your representatives for this replacement as my card was not a chip based card ?