Lack of proper authentication overseas led

In the wake of rising frauds in the payments space, Reserve Bank of India has said that money gets siphoned off from accounts in India by fraudsters in overseas locations through cloning of debit cards.This may be because there is no authentication process for securing transactions overseas.

“The problems relating to illegal debit card transactions happened because we are inter-linked, and the two-factor authentication and the other security measures did not exist in overseas market where these cards were cloned and used,” said G. Padmanabhan, Executive Director, RBI, at an event organised to announce a tie-up between Western Union Money Transfer and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

According to him, “Technology has enabled an inter-linked world and payment infrastructure. While this is welcome…please also remember that you are as good as the weakest link.”Urging Kotak and Western Union to put systems in place to address these concerns, Padmanabhan said some violations have started happening particularly in the area of money transfer.

Recently, some customers of private sector Axis Bank had complained of cash getting withdrawn from their accounts from overseas locations.In its investigation, the law enforcement agencies found out that fraudsters had fixed skimming devices on some ATMs so that information on the cards can be skimmed and cloned. The information was loaded on to a cloned card to make fraudulent withdrawals in Greece.

He said while the RBI is taking many new preventive measures, the system is looking for a first mover to answer “is moving to EMV chip and pin is the only solution to fraud in card transactions or are there better solutions?”Giving other suggestions, Padmanabhan said if card as a payments instrument can be replaced by mobile-based options, then cloning may not be possible. He also asked banks to aggressively explore the NEFT technology.

In the immigration bill there is a “Trojan Horse” clause known as the  mandatory E-Verify system which requires all Americans to carry a “tamper-proof” social security card. Sounds to me much like we are heading into the RFID debate debate soon.

So before you can legally begin your new  job, American citizens will have to show “their papers” to their prospective employer, who will have to verify their identity and eligibility to hold a job in the US by running the information through the newly-created federal E-Verify database. This does not sound so awful as we already have to provide proof of oil painting reproduction! But wait there is more!

The database which will contain photographs taken from passport files and state driver’s licenses will most likely be . The law gives federal bureaucrats broad discretion in adding other “biometric” identifiers to the database. It also gives the bureaucracy broad authority to determine what features the “tamper proof” card should contain.

One of the uses will be chip in this card that will undoubtedly also keep track of when you punch in to work and when you leave and where/when you apply for jobs. Someone could easily use this information to rob your house or know your trends. Its a complete violation of privacy. The thing is if you create a system for one use that sounds good  it can easily be used for other uses that are not so good. Just look at the Patriot Act and NDAA.

Just think what has our government done write in the last 30 years? What one bill are you proud of? With a 9% approval rating what does that qualify the government to be in charge of? Why would we let the government decide who and where you work.

“Regardless of one’s views on immigration, the idea that we should have to ask permission from the federal government before taking a job ought to be offensive to all Americans. Under this system, many Americans will be denied the opportunity for work. The E-Verify database will falsely identify thousands as “ineligible,” forcing many to lose job opportunities while challenging government computer inaccuracies. E-Verify will also impose additional compliance costs on American businesses, at a time when they are struggling with Obamacare implementation and other regulations.

According to David Bier of Competitive Enterprise Institute, there is nothing stopping the use of E-Verify for purposes unrelated to work verification, and these expanded uses could be authorized by agency rule-making or executive order. So it is not inconceivable that, should this bill pass, the day may come when you are not be able to board an airplane or exercise your second amendment rights without being run through the E-Verify database. It is not outside the realm of possibility that the personal health care information that will soon be collected by the IRS and shared with other federal agencies as part of Obamacare will also be linked to the E-Verify system.

Those who dismiss these concerns as paranoid should consider that the same charges were leveled at those who warned that the PATRIOT Act could lead to the government collecting our phone records and spying on our Internet usage. Just as the PATRIOT Act was only supposed to be used against terrorists but is now used to bypass constitutional protections in matters having noting to do with terrorism or national security, the national ID/mandatory E-Verify database will not only be used to prevent illegal immigrants from gaining employment. Instead, it will eventually be used as another tool to monitor and control the American people.


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