Dhaka: As the incidents of credit card forgery are on the rise, Bangladesh Bank is likely to fix a deadline for banks to take ‘compliance measures’ to prevent fraudulence.

Reports are there that the swindling of both credit and debit cards is growing across the country in connivance with international gangsters.

Banking industry insiders say such crime is taking place due to weak and very old systems of the banks which could easily be broken using advanced technology.

They say whenever such fraudulence takes place, banks do not want to make it public considering their reputation, and secretly compensate the victims, reports UNB.

But a study of the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management shows that the most frequent type of fraudulent activities resulting from a cyber intrusion reported by banks was ATM/point-of-sale schemes (23 percent).

The BBIM study found that 30 percent banks have Online Payment Gateway Service for e-commerce payment processing. As of December 31 last year, 928 online shop owners and merchants were selling products using banks’ payment gateways.

Admitting the credit and debit card-related crimes, Bangladesh Bank Executive Director SubhankarSaha said the central bank receives many complaints about credit card-related crimes.

‘We’re now scrutinising the cases of the credit card fraudulence. On completion of our assessment and investigation, we’ll ask the banks to take adequate cyber security measures, and set a deadline for them to comply with the instructions,’ he told UNB.

Subhankar, also BB’s spokesman, said after last year’s incidents of debit card forgery at the ATM booths, Bangladesh Bank issued a series of instructions, including installation of anti-skimming devices at the booths, to check any fraudulence.

‘We think the anti-skimming devices have so far been installed at 90 percent of the ATM booths, and the remaining booths will see the devices installed shortly,’ he said.

About the introduction of chip-based credit cards, the central bank spokesman, however, said the banks have started the task to this end as per instructions of the Bangladesh Bank. ‘But, it’ll take some time to replace the current magnetic-stripped credit cards with the chip-based ones.’

At present, banks are issuing magnetic-stripped credit cards whose information can easily be copied at the point-of-sales (POS) terminals at a merchant bank’s outlet. There are over 30,000 POS terminals, calculator-like devices used for swiping cards, in the country.

After copying the information, the criminals can make cloned cards and use them to take out money from ATM booths.

The BIBM survey reveals that 67 percent of ATMs have anti-skimming devices and 52 percent cards are compliant with Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV).

Such EMV-compliant card is a global standard for inter-operation of integrated chip cards, which are used at POS terminals and ATMs for authenticating credit and debit card transactions.

But if such EMV-compliant card is used at a non-compliant ATM, the cardholder could be vulnerable to identity theft, said the study.