The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Your credit card is not safe anymore! Law & order

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Saturday, Jun 14, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Your credit card is not safe anymore! Law & order

Leakage of crucial client data by call centre employees raises questions over security measures, writes Marri Ramu

That plastic money is safe turning out to be a myth with offences relating to misuse of credit cards registering a spurt.

Of all such cases, the fraud busted on Thursday involving leakage of crucial card data of clients by call centre employees raised serious security questions. Using the details leaked by call centre executives, bills relating to civic amenities were pa id online through eSeva website.

With Hyderabad slowly evolving into a hub of Business Process Outsourcing offices and Call Centre operations, the police feel the scope for recurrence of these crimes is high. Operators of BPO offices and Call Centres say they take several precautions to ensure employees don’t part with information of clients.

Cameras

Surveillance cameras are installed in these offices to keep tab on workers attempting to conceal confidential data of clients. Most offices don’t allow the employees to jot down any details on paper. Data, other than office process, fed into the computer in separate files is always monitored.

Transfer of data from computer to pen-drive or chip or any other device is prohibited. “But scope of the employee making a mental note of the client’s 16-digit card number and other details is always there and poses a threat,” P. Sravan of Genesseetech observes. To check this, employees are asked to sign an agreement while joining the company.

Software experts observe that checking such frauds 100 per cent may not be possible but they can be minimised by introducing some features on the eSeva portal. If payment of bills online through international credit cards is not allowed, rate of such offences would come down. A feature of asking billing address of the cardholder should be introduced on the e-Seva portal if the credit card is an international one. The portal should also insist on the name of the cardholder and withhold transactions if the name of the person on the bill and that of the cardholder are different. Some business portals insist on previous transaction data of the cardholder before carrying out an order.

Careless shopkeepers

After pursuing cases of misuse of stolen and clone credit cards, the police found that many shopkeepers accepted transactions despite locals presenting cards that were in the name of foreigners.

The shopkeepers must insist on some documentary proof to make sure that the person using the card is its rightful owner.

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