COLOMBO, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Central Bank on Thursday urged customers withdrawing cash through the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) network to use cards with an electronic chip (EMV) to avoid fraud.

In a statement, the Central Bank said that while payment cards provide customers the convenience of withdrawing cash through ATM network and transacting through merchants worldwide, there is a possibility that ATM and card reading machines can be abused by criminals in order to steal customer funds from their accounts.

"Few incidents of fund withdrawals using fraudulent payment cards were reported in the recent past. Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Lanka Clear (Pvt) Limited and licensed banks have initiated several measures, in addition to measures that are already in place, to mitigate such situations and enhance the security of customer funds while ensuring the safety of the banking system," the Central Bank said.

"In order to strengthen the security of ATM transactions, customers are required to use EMV enabled payment cards. The EMV enabled cards carry an electronic chip which is visible at the front of the card. If the card used by a customer is not EMV enabled, a request can be made from the relevant bank to issue an EMV enabled card," the Bank added.

The Central Bank further informed customers to exercise due care and vigilance when using payment cards and ATMs in order to ensure the safety of ATM transactions.

Any unidentified or unauthorized transactions and lost or misplaced cards should be notified to the relevant bank, immediately, the Bank said.