Noida, an IT hub of Delhi-NCR, is becoming soft target of cyber criminals as several cases pertaining to ATM cloning, online fraud and mobile banking scam have been reported in the recent past.
More than 250 cases of cyber fraud were registered under IT Act so far which is quite higher than other cities. This month alone around 20 cases of ATM cloning have been surfaced which have raised finger over the safety measures adopted by the district police to minimise such cases. However, 45 cases were registered in Gurgaon this year.
The criminals, in complicity with the bank officials and security guards, deployed at ATM kiosks, are accessing details of ATM cards and are conducting the crime easily. They are accessing information through physical assess of cards at patrol pumps, malls and shopping. The criminals have also preferred to withdraw the money on Saturday so the victim could not approach the account holding bank for closing the account. In a few cases, the criminals have used over 10 cloned ATM cards of one account at different locations to extract the money from ATM machine.
Gopikant Nayak, Assistant General Manager (AGM) of NTPC, had lodged a complaint on December 7 that `1.9 lakh were withdrawn with in a span of 30 minutes from 10 ATM centres across the city. Very next day a deputy manager of NTPC, Deepak Kumar, complained cyber cell that `1 lakh were taken out in one night from his account by using cloned card. On December 11, a Noida-based export company complained that hackers hacked official e-mail of the company and transferred the payment in their own account. The police investigation revealed that the hacking was done from Hong Kong in March this year. Similarly, other cases of ATM fraud were also reported on same pattern. In one case of cyber fraud, police have booked some bank officials.
Kislay Chaudhary, a Noida-based cyber expert, said that the cases of cyber crime are increasing rapidly in the region because of unskilled police cops who are handling the cyber cell these days.
This apart, nexus between security guards and cyber criminals is also a reason for increasing cases of ATM fraud. “The guards allow them to install steamer, a device which access details of ATM cards used at the machine, for consideration which helps them in making duplicate cards. The criminals are also getting information with the help of cloner, a device similar to swapping machine, these days,” said Chaudhary.
Meanwhile, considering the seriousness of the issue, cyber cell of Noida police has announced a team to create awareness among the card users. The team, along with bank officials, will educate security guards, students and employees of the companies ways to avoid cyber fraud and to safeguard their interests.