Lok Sabha Question No. 3370 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-23
Subject: Online Banking Frauds
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Gomati Sai

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3370

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 23.03.2022

## ONLINE BANKING FRAUDS

## 3370.  SHRIMATI GOMATI SAI:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the increasing incidents of online-banking frauds and hacking of the  ATMs and data and if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken by the Government to check such incidents;
- (b) whether the Government proposes to bring in new technique to check the aforesaid incidents of online frauds and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government is aware of the fraudulent activities like cloning of ATM cards and if so, the details thereof and the steps being taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (d) the details of the steps taken/being taken by the Government to check the rising cases of frauds by obtaining the OTP and other bank details on phone calls?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a) and (b): Government of India is making focussed efforts on ensuring security of digital payments and creating awareness  in  citizens about secure  digital  payment  practices.  Online  banking  and  ATM transactions are secured with two factor authentication for safety of the customers. Online-banking frauds are perpetrated primarily due to customer compromising credentials unknowingly.

Various measures have been undertaken by the Government to control such incidents are as under:

- (i) MeitY  has  communicated  to  all  Banks  and  Payment  Service  Providers  to  undertake  awareness campaigns for promotion of secure payment practices.
- (ii) Customer awareness campaigns are carried out by ecosystem players in order to ensure that customers do not fall victim to frauds using social engineering techniques.
- (iii) Reserve  Bank  of  India  (RBI)  has  issued  instructions  to  banks  (Scheduled  Commercial  Banks including RRBs, Small Finance Banks, Payments Banks, Primary (urban), State and District Central Co-operative Banks) regarding limiting the customer liabilities in unauthorised/ fraudulent electronic transactions.
- (iv) RBI  has    issued  the  'Master  Direction  on  Digital  Payment  Security  Controls'  vide  circular  dated February 18, 2021 to all Scheduled Commercial Banks, Small Finance Banks,Payments Banks and NBFCs, for providing necessary guidelines for the regulated entities to set up a robust governance structure  and  implement  common  minimum  standards  of  security  controls  for  digital  payment products and services.
- (c): The RBI has mandated that all new cards issued by banks - debit and credit, domestic and international - be EMV chip and PIN based cards, to safeguard against cloning of ATM cards.

(d):  The  Department  of  Telecommunications  has  initiated  steps  for  effective  handling  of  Unsolicited Commercial  Communication  (UCC)  and  the  financial  frauds  being  done  through  misuse  of  telecom resources and development of redressal mechanism to enable telecom subscribers to lodge their complaints related to matters involving UCC.

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