The Hindu Business Line : Three simple tips to frustrate crimes in cyber space

THREE basic and simple rules: do not operate your accounts from a cyber cafe, do not give out the password and do not give your phone numbers in the chat room.

These are enough to ensure that most cyber crimes do not take place, said Mr Sanjay Jadhav, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) and head of the Cyber Cell.

Speaking at a function organised by the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), Mr Jadhav said that in most cases, especially where BPOs are concerned, what actually happens is that the customer is asked to type in the PIN number while the transaction number is flashed on the screen. When the fraud is to take place, the customer is told that the first two login attempts did not match and usually during the third attempt the customer starts murmuring the PIN number. This is immediately picked up and the rest is history. Mr Jadhav pointed out that the Internet is a large and unprotected domain and most of the times the servers are placed in the West and people there are reluctant to help with the investigations. He said the US might be very concerned about its security and the paraphernalia, but the Koreans and the Chinese always beat them to the game. He says at least four out of the five clients in the US get cheated by them.

On frauds taking place at ATM centres, Mr Jadhav said that there are many manufacturers making dummy slots. Usually the fraudster goes to an ATM centre and puts in the dummy slot and walks out. The customers who walk in later find that their cards are not accepted. They note that every time the card is swiped or put into the machine, the data on the magnetic tape behind is transferred onto the dummy slot. Later, the fraudster comes back and picks up the dummy slot, walks out and gets access to all the accounts that have been through the ATM.

Also, if the customer at any other centre forgets to sign out from the ATM, the account remains alive for 30 seconds by which time anybody can get an access to his account. The Internet, which is a boon for e-commerce, is now posing a threat to many of the transactions that are taking place on the Net.

Mr Jadhav said it is essential to take a few precautionary measures to avoid being cheated.

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