Don't let criminals outsmart you

Talking about new age criminals, they deploy the most sophisticated techniques to carry out their heists. The current surveillance systems being outdated, it becomes a mammoth task for the security officials to apprehend them, due to lack of proof, of even the occurrence of the crime.

Recent times have seen an incessant use of skimming machines to carry out financial crimes. Skimming machines reroute the credit/debit card details of the owner, when the card is swiped/scanned on the device, mounted with a skimming machine, to an arbitrary computer, usually controlled by the thief himself. This information, about the owner’s card, is then used to exhort money from the bank account of the user. Alternatively, when these skimming machines are attached to ATMs, they are able to record the fingerprints of the user, as and when the user enters his pin, along with recoding the card details, getting complete access to the user’s credentials.

During 2017, the number of compromised ATMs and point-of-sale devices rose 8 percent, according to data FICO released in March 2018. Meanwhile, the number of compromised cards climbed 10 percent. That comes on the heels of a 70 percent jump in the number of payment cards compromised U.S. ATMs, restaurants and merchants rose 30 percent in 2016. About 60 percent of those compromises were at nonbank ATMs, such as those in convenience stores. Gas stations have become a comparatively popular place to install skimming machines, since it is relatively easier to hide and retrieve these devices from petrol pumps, considering it is an open area, without much surveillance. Florida, which tracked the number of skimmers, found that about 1,000 gas pumps in 2018 had skimmers, according to the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. That’s up from more than 650 pumps last year and nearly 220 in 2016. According to the National Association for Convenience Stores: 37 million Americans refuel every day. Of them, 29 million pay for fuel with a credit or debit card. When skimming occurs at a gas station, it usually takes place at only one pump. A single compromised pump can capture data from 30 to 100 cards per day.

Apart from skimming machines, there is one more technology which has lately been used by robbers to carry out cargo theft, GPS jammers. Criminal gangs have begun using GPS jammers, imported from China, to help them steal expensive cars and Lorries carrying valuable loads – and there are fears that terrorists could use more powerful versions to disrupt air traffic. These GPS Jammers put out radio signals at the same frequency as the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, overwhelming the timing signal that in-car devices use to plot their position. That means a tracker device built into a lorry with a valuable load, or a car with an anti-theft GPS device which should report its position if stolen, cannot distinguish the correct GPS signal.

Moreover, cops fear that these jamming devices can play havoc with safety of passengers. Cab aggregators rely on GPS for the safety of their customers, certain that an alarm can be raised even if the driver takes a minute’s detour from the prescribed route. Henceforth, due GPS jammers, the exact location of the vehicle will not be ascertained, and despite repeated alarms being raised by the passenger, timely help will not be able to reach him/her.

What we need, to tackle these masterminds, is an equally efficient surveillance mechanism, which will be able to detect even the minutest of the alterations. This can be achieved with the help of FaceorbitTM algorithms, integrated with the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI). FaceorbitTM algorithms, when installed on your cameras, make them more capable to prevent crimes, rather than merely record them. Currently, the CCTV cameras installed within ATM booths, merely record entrants. However, with FaceorbitTM algorithms, which maintain a timely record of all people entering the premises, will be able to instantly alert the user, in the form of instant text messages/e-mails, in case anyone tries to meddle with the ATM machines, or even tries to use use someone else’s card details, in the form of dummy cards, as FaceorbitTM has a special eye for details.

FaceorbitTM is adept at both Face and Object Recognition, as well as studying human sentiments. Thus, FaceorbitTM can differentiate when a person is in a hurry, or is stressed, indicating he is up to no good, and thereby send an alert to the authorities, to instantly stop the criminal in his tracks. If any person tries to enter the ATM booth with sharp objects, like knives, or weapons, like guns, which have been specified by the user as unauthorized, an instant alert will be sent to the authorities.

When it comes to GPS Jammers, FaceorbitTM not only tracks the location of the vehicle, but also ensures that no one breaks into the vehicle. In case of any unauthorized access, or the detection of any weapon/sharp object, an instant alert will be sent to the end user. This shall ensure, that even if the GPS is hacked, no one can enter the vehicle, or try to steal anything from the lorry, as instant suspicion will be aroused due to constant notifications. FaceorbitTM algorithms also maintain a database about the number of each item being transported, and any item missing will give rise to an instant alarm.

As it is rightly said, to catch a criminal, you have to think like one. And this is exactly what we have done, to make our surveillance systems fool-proof and impenetrable.