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MANGALURU: Sunanda (not her real name) was out of the city when she received an SMS from her bank regarding debit card transactions. The text said her card was used at point of sale (POS) terminals. (A card holder has to hand over his/her debit card at a POS to the merchant for swiping.) She was shocked because she had not used the card for more than three months.

By the time the doctor could realize the consequences, she had lost Rs 43,000 in 45 minutes, between 10pm and 10.45 pm, on June 19. Sunanda’s case is one among rising complaints involving debit card frauds in the city. Police say skimming at a POS terminal could be one of the reasons.

"It’s not possible for such transactions to happen unless the card holder has unwittingly given information to some fraudster or shared card details online. In case they have not shared card details, it can happen through skimming at POS swipe terminals," police sources said.

Assistant commissioner of police Tilak Chandra said such frauds can be traced. "When a transaction takes place at a POS terminal, police can follow the product trail; or if it is transferred to a bank, the account can be followed,’’ he told TOI, adding Assistant commissioner of police Tilak Chandra said sometimes online transactions are hard to trace and need multi-agency coordination.

In another case, Shalet (name changed) was enjoying her weekend at home on June 13 when she received three SMSs that said her card was used for different amounts. The total amount swiped was Rs 24,000. Also, a Malaysian student lost Rs 1 lakh in one such fraud case. Another doctor is said to have lost Rs 1.18 lakh in six hours between 10.47pm and 5.05am on June 18.

Shalet said that though she did not use her card for online transactions, she had used it extensively for shopping and at various eateries.

Sunanda said the bank that had issued the card informed her that the fraud was traced to Europe. She has been promised that the lost money would be made good on the conclusion of the probe.

While police are investigating cases below Rs 1 lakh, the frauds above the amount are being handed over to the CID’s cyber cell.

Investigating officers say skimming is the reason in many of the reported cases since the cards have magnetic stripes instead of EMV chips. EMV cards, also called chip cards or IC cards, store data on integrated circuits rather than magnetic stripes; they are highly secure and process data with unparalleled security when used along with PIN, and it is virtually impossible to copy or tamper with. It also protects cards against counterfeiting and skimming.