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Fraudulent offshore transactions have affected some Axis Bank credit card clients, according to a top official from the third largest private sector lender on Thursday.
Fraudsters gathered a few card numbers and matched them with expiry dates to carry out the unauthorized transactions, he said, explaining that because these are international transactions, they can proceed without any second factor authentication, such as a one-time password sent via SMS or even the CVV number.
Sanjeev Moghe, head of cards and payments at the city-based company, said that from Tuesday evening, consumers saw unauthorized transactions and received transaction notifications on certain low-value purchases made at several e-commerce sites.
More Details on fraudulent transactions faced by Axis Bank credit card consumers
According to Moghe, there has been “no data breach” at the bank, and the scope of such transactions is relatively limited. Customers’ data is safe and secure.
Amid increased social media talk about such unauthorized transactions, Moghe claimed the bank’s internal safeguards blocked some transactions, but many consumers were affected.
According to Moghe, the bank’s credit card customers spent approximately Rs 500 crore per day, although the volume of such transactions was “very small” in comparison.
Fraudsters obtained a few card numbers and matched them with expiry dates to carry out the unauthorized transactions, he said, explaining that because these are international transactions, they can proceed without any second factor authentication, such as a one-time password sent via SMS or even the CVV number.
In response to a question on how the fraudsters obtain the data, he stated that the first six digits of a 16-digit number are bank-specific, and that the card numbers can be obtained when the card is used to pay at gas stations or restaurants.
When asked if other banks have had similar incidents where their customers’ credit card data were picked up in the same way, Moghe replied he was not immediately aware of the situation.
Axis Bank is replacing the credit cards for the affected customers and charging back the debited amount, according to Moghe, who added that the lender is not suffering any losses.
The Reserve Bank has been informed of the instances, and the bank will need to consider tactics like as audits to avoid similar incidents in the future, he said.
On Thursday, the Axis Bank share closed 0.50 percent lower at Rs 1,048.30 per piece on the BSE, compared to the benchmark’s 0.90 percent rise.
