Have you read this news yet?

In what seems to be a step towards digital security of all the Indian customers, the RBI has directed all the banks to update the existing debit and credit cards with magnetic stripes by 31^st December 2018. These old cards will be updated with new cards that come with EMV chips. The abbreviation EMV stands for Europay-MasterCard-Visa.

All these cards can be domestic and international cards. Even though the expiry of your cards is post 31^st December 2018, still you will have to exchange these cards with the new ones that will be issued by your banks. The charges for these new cards will be taken over by the banks and provided free of cost to you. There are two main reasons for this change;

1. There are many banking level frauds that have increased since the past decade. Via skimming and cloning of cards, many people have lost their hard earned money to these fraudsters.
2. The magnetic stripe cards need to be swiped only in order to complete the point of sale. But with the latest chip based cards, apart from a swipe, you will also have to enter your PIN to complete the sale. This will increase the security of your private information.

Why this sudden change?

With the sudden spike in technology, card cloning has been on the rise not only in Asia but also in all the other continents. Hence keeping the privacy of customers as the major concern, this decision has been taken.

The amount stolen from customers due to such frauds has doubled year on year. Hence such an intense step has been taken by the RBI.

Ruloans Advice:

Please follow these advices in order to ensure your information is safe.

1. Do not share your password/CVV number/PIN of Debit or Credit Cards. Your banker or anyone would never ask for such information. If they do, please do not share it no matter whatever is being said to you.
2. Use different passwords for each account. This might be a little bit tedious as you will have to remember many passwords but it can help reduce a lot of damage in case of the unfortunate event where you lose your wallet which has all the cards.
3. Keep an authentication requirement for your password. In case there is someone who has been trying to log in through your account and cannot crack your password, then he/she will have to answer the security questions which you have listed. Please do not keep any multi choice questions. Because giving the hackers options shrink your card’s safety chances.
4. Also please change your passwords every quarter. This will help you in maintaining your account and no one will be able to crack it. Ensure it is strong i.e. which has no pattern and makes sense only to you.
5. Please do not login to your netbanking through a link given in the emailer. Sometimes hackers create a fake page and you end up in their trap as you fill your basic information. Also, please do not make payments when on a public Wi-Fi platform. Your data can be easily used and manipulated there.