Ram Shanker Shukla from Lucknow got the biggest surprise when he recieved SMS alerts saying Rs 20,000 were deducted from his bank account and that too, to pay utility bills in Delhi and Jaipur. By the time he realised it, Shukla had become the latest victim of online fraud.

"It must be the job of a hacker because I have never used a public computer nor have I shared the financial details of my card with anyone," Shukla said.

Not just Shukla, recently, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla's credit card was reportedly cloned and used to make a purchases worth Rs 2.8 lakh in Bangalore, while Birla was in Mumbai.

The crime isn't that difficult to pull off. The first way is by cloning or skimming your credit card, where all the details are obtained through a pager-sized scanner and copied on to a counterfeit card. Often, this is done with the help of a bartender or a salesperson.

The second way is phishing, that is, stealing sensitive information like usernames, password and credit card details where fraudulent websites disguise as legitimate ones to steal sensitive data.

Cyber Security Expert Dominic Karunesudas said, "The key to reducing online credit card or debit card fraud is only through training and awareness."

A person need to take care of these things:

- Do not share sensitive information with anyone.

- Register for transaction alerts with your bank for SMS and E-mail.

- Reduce spending limits on your credit card.

- Use virtual keyboard whenever possible.

- Memorise the 3 digit CVV (card verification value) number and scratch it out

- If you lose your phone, deactivate all banking services linked with the number.

What makes it worse if you become a victim of such fraud cases is that there are no clear cyber crime laws that help you recover your money.