Here’s what you should do if fraudsters withdraw money from your ATM card

The list of dos and don’ts for cybercrime or debit/credit card frauds

Last week, when Mumbai-based Chikita Kukreja, who works for a pharmaceutical multinational company, woke up and checked her phone, she was shocked to see eight consecutive automated teller machine (ATM) withdrawal text messages from her bank in a span of couple of minutes. The transaction took place in Delhi, while she was sleeping in Mumbai. At the time of the transaction, her debit card was with her in Mumbai.

HT File/Representational Image

Mumbai-based Abhishek Subhedar, a consultant with the Maharashtra government, also has a similar story too. In his case, two consecutive ATM withdrawals took place in Delhi while his card was in Mumbai with him.

The bank says it appears to be a skimming attack. An ICICI Bank spokesperson said, “Prima facie, these appear to be cases of card skimming. Typically in skimming, fraudsters copy card information from the magnetic strip of a credit/debit card while it is being used by the customer at various merchant locations. They also gain access to the PIN through shoulder surfing or strategic placement of small cameras.”

In both the cases, ICICI Bank has refunded the money. “We had requested the customers to submit a few required documents, including a duly filled charge dispute form (CDF), a formal document required by the ATM network partners. This is a document by which a customer states that he/she has not done a particular transaction. As soon as we received the required documents, we returned the money to the customers. As a precautionary measure, we are also issuing new debit cards to our customers.”

It is not just ICICI Bank customers who have been affected. An Axis Bank Ltd’s customer also lost money due to fraudulent ATM transaction. Delhi-based Venkat Aditya Kopeneni, who heads branding in a consultancy firm, got five ATM cash withdrawal messages from his bank of a total amount of Rs50,000. At the time of the transaction, Kopeneni had the debit card with him. “The location of the ATM transaction shows West Delhi. At that moment, I was in South Delhi,” said Kopeneni.