Centre steps in as 32 lakh debit cards ‘hacked’

With about 32 lakh debit cards suspected of being exposed to malicious software, the finance ministry on Thursday sought to calm worried customers, saying there was no need for panic as the breached debit cards constituted only a small number of the total such cards which are “completely safe”, and directed all the banks to replace the “compromised” cards free of charge.

Banks have also reassured customers that they are taking all precautionary and pro-active measures to protect the interests of account holders. Several banks have decided to either replace or have asked their customers to change their security codes.

Department of financial services additional secretary G.C. Murmu said on Thursday, “Only about 0.5 per cent of total debit card details were compromised while remaining 99.5 cards are completely safe and bank customers should not panic.”

There are around 60 crore debit cards operational in India.

“Since the data compromise has taken place from specific machine and specific time period, so it is just a limited issue and banks have asked their affected customers to replace their card or change PIN,” Mr Murmu said, adding that other cards are not affected at all.

The National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for all retail payment system in India, said that the complaints of fraudulent withdrawals are limited to cards of 19 banks and 641 customers.

The total amount involved is Rs 1.3 crore as reported by various affected banks to NPCI.

A.P. Hota, MD & CEO, NPCI, said that necessary corrective actions have already been taken and there is no reason for bank customers to panic.

According to him, the matter came to light following receipt of complaints from customers about their cards being fraudulently used mainly in China and USA while they were in India.