With rising instances of cyber fraud, the government is looking to increase awareness among customers on how to secure their bank accounts and UPI IDs.
According to sources, the Union finance ministry is understood to be exploring what more can be done to make digital banking more secure and is likely to talk to other nodal departments and agencies like Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as well as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
A slew of meetings has been planned this week with the finance ministry also set to hold meetings with public sector banks and Reserve Bank of India officials on Tuesday. Banks have already been advised to review their cyber security initiatives and suggest further measures on what further can be done such as more firewalls.
“There are already a number of measures in place against cyber banking frauds. There is need for greater awareness amongst customers to keep their accounts safe,” said a person familiar with the development, adding that cyber security is an evolving issue and more initiatives to safeguard banks and customer accounts will also be taken up.
Banks are likely to be urged to renew awareness and education efforts on cyber fraud prevention mechanisms for customers. There is also a need to have more stringent screening of junk or spam calls by fraudsters, the sources indicated.
The move comes soon after UCO Bank fell prey to a massive digital fraud. On November 15, it reported that between November 10 and 13 an erroneous transfer of Rs 820 crore was made to some of its account holders using the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) facility due to a “technical issue”. The bank has been able to recover about Rs 649 crore or 77% of the amount.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too recently underlined the need to build awareness amongst people on cyber frauds and had highlighted the problem of people getting random calls by fraudsters due to which they end up losing money.