Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 08, 2007
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Saturday, Dec 08, 2007 ePaper |
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Tamil Nadu
Storing personal details such as PIN of credit/debit cards could be inviting trouble, says L. Srikrishna “If you have stored the PIN [Personal Identification Number] of your ATM card in the mobile phone… please delete it at the earliest”. Card-users can no longer take this police advice lightly when seen against the backdrop of some of the recent incidents involving credit/debit card thefts. In a case of burglary in the city, a police officer said that the thieves had stolen the purse and mobile phone when the inmates were fast asleep. With the mobile phone containing the PIN of the cards, it was a matter of time before they withdrew sizeable money from the bank accounts of the victims. According to police officers investigating such cases, the incidents in which the handset containing the PIN of the bank cards is misused are on the rise. People, who are in the habit of storing the passwords of e-mail or PIN of different bank accounts in their mobile phones, are at high risk, police say. Many of the thieves seem to resort to the crime only to increase their booty with the PIN instead of merely for the sake of the money that they will make by selling the stolen handsets. A group of young women went to a restaurant recently in the city. After dining, one woman in the group had left her mobile phone and handbag behind. When she realised it after about an hour and checked with the restaurant, the staff there pleaded ignorance. And even before she could lodge a police complaint, the miscreant had withdrawn about Rs 40,000 in cash from her bank account. She had stored her PIN of the credit/debit cards in the mobile phone, an officer said. There have also been cases where the PIN was used for making purchases online following the theft of mobile phones. With many sophisticated handsets loaded with a basketful of facilities, public had to be extra cautious in preserving their valuables, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Madhavaram) S. Murugan. He said many mobile phone users had little knowledge about the working of ‘bluetooth’ facility in their handsets. Those visiting shopping mall should ensure that the bluetooth is switched off as there are possibilities of others gaining access to personal information stored in the handset and misuse. According to officers in the central crime branch, every day up to 20 persons complain that they have lost their mobile phones. With the detection rate going up, public who are in the habit of storing their details related to bank accounts in the mobile phones should desist from doing it immediately, police say.
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