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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Investigative Committee of Belarus identifies factors enabling bank card theft

The Investigative Committee of Belarus recently suggested measures to increase the security of data stored on plastic bank cards after investigating several criminal cases involving thefts using plastic cards.

The investigation discovered two major factors making such theft possible, BelTA reports.

The investigation revealed that if forged bank cards had been used with point of sale terminals, criminals would not need to know the PIN code and that compromised bank cards had a magnetic strip that allowed criminals to make forged cards.

The committee suggested making users enter PIN codes when paying at POS terminals. It also suggested the gradual transition away from magnetic strip cards to chip-based cards. according to BelTA.

The committee is also looking to make SMS notifications about bank card operations mandatory and Belarusian banks are encouraged to enable free SMS notifications for bank card holders.