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Payment by cards ? Exercise Caution !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are many technologically innovative products, services and delivery channels being launched and widely made use of in the banking domain. One of these options being marketed extensively is the various multi-utility branded cards which includes the credit and the debit cards. These co-branded cards apart from being used in the ATMs are also used at POS terminals (point of sale). The next time you decide to use your credit card on a shopping trip, think again. There was a news item that appeared in the Times News Network recently titled " 4 held for siphoning off plastic cash". The Mumbai police have busted a hi-tech credit card fraud which could be the crime of the future. Four gadget savvy youngsters, two of them software engineers, got together to earn some quick bucks and ended up siphoning over Rs.3 lakh. According to the police, the mastermind of the gang was a 19 year old who realised that if credit cards were swiped though a portable magnetic card reader, the personal data of the customer stored on it could be accessed. He then teamed with another 19 year old, and ordered the card reader from USA, through the internet, since the same was not available in India. These boys befriended a waiter at a hotel to take their plan ahead, Every time someone paid by credit card for food in that hotel, the waiter would discreetly swipe it through the magnetic card reader, which is no more than 6-inches long and can be stored in the pocket. Once the job is done, the waiter would hand over the device to the fellow fraudsters who would download the data from the cards onto a personal computer. The duo would then feed the data into blank cards, available in the grey market making them ready for use in shopping malls or to withdraw money from ATMs. Portable magnetic card reader can store data from about a dozen cards which are swiped through it. What care do the ordinary card users need to take in this regard? The best thing that could be done is to ensure that the cards are swiped in the cardholder's presence. This can be ensured in most of the POS payments like shopping malls, automobile fuel stations etc. However, it could be difficult in the payment of hotel food bills where the practice generally followed is that the cards are handed over for swiping to the waiters along with the bills and received back along with the payment slip for signature. Probably the best thing to do in this case is to exercise prudence and hand over the cards for payment only at the cash counter/card swiping activity is visible. Yet another check would be that since most of the credit card liabilities statements are availabel online in the repective websites, periodic checks on the transactions posted would give an assurance that no unauthorized transactions are raised in the accounts. Needless to mention, the purpose of this article is not to instill any undue fear in the usage of the cards but to convey to you to exercise caution and prudence while transacting with cards.