Nothing To Panic On Debit Card Fraud, Payments Commission NPCI Says
The government has asked for a report on the extent of debit card data compromise.
Allaying fears after the recent security breach which has affected at least 32 lakh debit cards, the National Payments Corporation on Saturday said proper action has been taken to safeguard customer interest.
The security breach happened through a malware in the systems of Hitachi Payments Services, which serves the ATM network of Yes Bank and also some white-label ATMs.
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said the figure of 32 lakh cards is a proactively identified base of customers who have transacted in the set of suspected ATMs in the recent past.
"However, this does not mean that all these cards have been used for any fraudulent activity," the Reserve Bank-promoted NPCI said in a statement.
Only 641 customers have complained of fraudulent activity to banks, it added.
The statement said if a customer has not received any communication from his/her bank, the customer can be assured that the debit card is not at risk.
"NPCI would like to state that there is no need to panic as the problem has been identified and actions are already taken," it said.
NPCI is an umbrella organisation for all retail payments system in the country.
The government has also asked for a detailed report on the extent of debit card data compromise.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday that the government has sought a report on the debit card issue.
The banks have proactively intimated 32 lakh cardholders as a matter of precaution to either change the pin or replace the cards so that they are not misused in the future.
NPCI has said so far Rs 1.6 crore have been lost to fraudulent activities.
SBI is said to have re-called around 6 lakh cards, while others like Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank, Central Bank and Andhra Bank have also replaced debit cards of several customers as a pre-emptive measure.
Among the private sector players, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Yes Bank have asked customers to change their ATM PINs. HDFC Bank also advised its customers to use its own ATMs for carrying out any transaction.