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Instances of fraudulent transactions emanating from China and the US have prompted State Bank of India (SBI) to block a ‘large number’ of ATM cards.
It is learnt that the bank has proceeded to block cards of those customers who had failed to change the ATM PIN when alerted on an earlier occasion. These customers had been instructed to look out for a message, ‘Response Code 150’ saying ‘your card is blocked,’ while logging in at the ATM.
They were advised to put in a request for a new ATM card through internet banking or apply through a branch. The bank would issue the new card free of charge.
A spokesman of State Bank of Travancore, an associate bank, said here that not more than 300 cards issued by it were affected. But unofficial reports said cards ‘running into lakhs’ may have been affected across SBI and associate banks.
Speaking to BusinessLine , a top SBI official confirmed that ‘a large number of ATM cards’ of the State Bank Group have been blocked but did not indicate any number.
An internal communication said that some cards have been blocked due to security reasons — these cannot be unblocked or de-hotlisted.
It went on to say that on customers’ request, replacement/new cards should be issued without replacement charges.
The list of blocked cards has been put out on an internal site and customers are being advised through SMS, individually.
There would have been security breaches that necessitated this move, the official said.
A communication from State Bank Global IT Centre, CBD, Belapur, regarding the blocking of suspected cards, had been forwarded to SBI circles earlier this week by Anytime Channels Department, Corporate Centre, Mumbai, on its internal platform.
Several instances of fraud involving lakhs of rupees have been reported from Kerala in recent times, with the Belgian member of an international gang being arrested from Mumbai and brought here for interrogation.
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