Before you withdraw cash from your nearest ATM, make sure you check the machine thoroughly for any added device attached over the machine for skimming.
The ATM skimming fraud which looted over One Billion rupees is managed by highly educated but jobless computer experts and Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) have launched a comprehensive action against the involved. According to sources, the Cyber Crime Wing of the FIA has already arrested two young computer experts and further information based action is anticipated.
The joint action was initiated by the FIA in collaboration with IT experts of a bank, after receiving multiple complaints. The gang operates by installing skimming devices to the standard ATM machines. One part is placed at the card input slot which reads the data of it and creates a duplicate card, while a micro camera is placed near the keypad of the machine to get the pin/password of the card. By creating a duplicate card, the account is accessible to transfer funds easily.
Usual targets of this gang are salaried persons and pensioners, as they operate or check their account relatively less. Their accounts are usually checked on the day of payment of the salary or pension.
FIA has advised all banks to check their ATMs on a regular basis to counter the said issue, while State Bank of Pakistan raised questions on the security of the banks, especially after the working hours.
Due to the technicalities involved in this crime, specialized legislation is required to put the involved behind bars. E – Crimes like these are significantly more complex to solve, as the actual location of the occurrence of the crime cannot be ascertained due to the online operation of the process.
A Chinese gang was also arrested from Karachi last year, which was involved in a similar crime. Police arrested over 5 Chinese nationals from DHA and Bahadurabad and also recovered around 2.9 million rupees. The case was then handed over to FIA.
