Cyber theft: Guard your plastic money

If you think your credit card information is safe, think twice. A series of fraud cases by employees of BPOs based in Gurgaon have come to light in the recent past.

If you think your credit card information is safe, think twice. A series of fraud cases by employees of BPOs based in Gurgaon have come to light in the recent past. Several customers, including foreign clients, have been duped of lakhs due to misuse of their credit card information.

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In two separate incidents, employees of BPOs Convergys and WNS were accused of stealing credit card details of foreign clients and using it for online shopping and hotel bookings.

HT spoke to experts who shared some tips on how you can protect credit cards and adopt safety measures to secure plastic money.

Cyber crime expert and counsel Pawan Duggal and Ian Craig, managing director of CPP India, advice that in addition to simple safety guidelines, card users can also subscribe to protection agencies to secure their online payments.

Duggal said, “If some basic security steps are followed, people can be relatively safe from potential credit card misuse. Your credit card is as valuable as cash itself so do not hand over your credit card to any friend, personal acquaintance or even family members. Do not store your credit card details on your computer or laptop. Also, avoid conducting online transactions from a cyber café.”

Craig added, “CPP's card protection plan is a one of its kind assistance service in India. Card protection is extremely relevant to anyone who uses financial cards as it also protects from fraudulent use arising out of card loss. It is useful for anyone who possesses plastic money like debit, credit, ATM, loyalty and membership cards.”