SBIonline: Chip enabled debit, credit cards will stop skimming, card cloning frauds, say experts

The State Bank of India in its online avatar or SBI online services is sending messages to its account holders in regards to changing their old SBI cards (both debit card and credit card). The message reads: 'Due to the RBI guidelines the bank is changing the ATM, RuPay debit card and credit cards of the customers for convenient and secure banking. This change in SBI cards are without any charges.' Customers are quite curious about the reasons why the bank is doing this and what made Reserve Bank of India or RBI to order the change in ATM, RuPay debit card and credit cards.

Speaking on the matter as to what made RBI change the existing SBI cards (ATM, RuPay debit and credit cards) SEBI registered investment and banking expert Jitendra Solanki said, "To meet the global standards of debit and card payments, the RBI in May 2015, directed all Indian banks to change the existing cards by a chip-based cards. The deadline given by the RBI for this exercise was December 2018 but the banks failed to meet that. However, this change of cards by SBI online services is in regard to that and these new cards would help SBI online services to contain the SBI card skimming from the cyber criminals."

Elaborating upon how the cards would contain SBI online skimming or any other banks online card skimming, Pawan Duggal, a New Delhi-based cyber crime expert said, "These cards would help SBI card holders from the malware attack that leads to cyber crime or online banking frauds through card cloning, phishing and skimming." Duggal said that in new chip-based cards, the data storage would be impossible as there will be new data getting stored into the chip deleting the previous data after each transaction. It will help customers cause as skimming or card cloning would become difficult for the online fraudsters.

Therefore, the new chip-based cards would help SBI online skimming a difficult task for cyber crime habitual if not impossible. At least, the new card would enhance the safety of bank account holder's hard earned money for sure, said cyber crime or SBI online skimming squad experts.