Axis Bank credit card users impacted by fraudulent transactions: How did it happen? How many are impacted?

Multiple Axis Bank credit cards’ customers have been impacted by fraudulent overseas transactions, a senior official from the third largest private sector lender said. Customers witnessed unauthorised transactions where they received transaction alerts on certain low-value purchases being carried out at some e-commerce sites, Sanjeev Moghe, head of cards and payments at Axis Bank said.

Has there been a data breach?

The official said that there has been “no data breach” at the bank’s end and the scale of fraudulent transactions is very limited. Customers’ data is safe and secure, he asserted.

How did Axis Bank react to the transactions?

The official said that the bank’s internal mechanisms stopped some transactions but many customers have been impacted. The bank witnessed spends of about ₹500 crore per day by its credit card customers. Hence, when compared to it, the extent of fraud transactions has been “very small”.

How many could be impacted?

The official said that the impacted customers are a small fraction of the overall spends and that “we are speaking about thousands and lakhs”.

How did this happen?

Fraudsters gained access to card numbers and matched it with the expiry dates to carry out the unauthorised transactions. Owing to them being international transactions, they go through without any second factor authentication like a one time password over SMS or even the CVV number. The first six digits in a 16-digit number are bank-specific and card numbers can be picked up when the card is given for payments at petrol pumps or restaurants.

What steps is the bank taking now?

Axis Bank is replacing credit cards for the impacted customers and charging back the debited amount. The Reserve Bank has been informed about the incidents and the bank will to look at strategies like audits, the official said.