DBS said it is investigating a total of over $200,000 worth of
unauthorised
withdrawals after some customers, including those from POSB, reported seeing
fraudulent deductions from their bank
accounts.
One affected customer, 25-year-old Amanda Goh, wrote on her
Facebook on Thursday that a total of $2,000 in withdrawals, spread
across four fraudulent transactions, were made from her
POSB bank
account via an overseas ATM machine on 4 and 5 January this
year.
She claimed that her POSB ATM card was not stolen, and that she is
not subscribed to any third-party financial services like internet
banking or Paypal that require banking credentials.
Another affected customer, John Seah, said on Twitter that $2,000
of fraudulent withdrawals were made from his POSB
bank account. He noted that the source of the transactions
was from Malaysia. He also added that his friend, too, had money
deducted from his bank
account without
permission.
DBS confirmed that some customers on Wednesday informed the bank of
unauthorised
withdrawals made in Malaysia through their DBS/POSB ATM/Debit
cards.
In a statement, Jeremy Soo, managing director and head of consumer
banking for DBS Bank in Singapore, said that affected customers who
had reported to the bank had their compromised cards immediately
de-activated, and the bank is now working on compensating these
customers in full.
"Investigations are currently underway and we are presently
validating all ATM/Debit card transactions made in Malaysia over
the past few days. We will also be alerting customers should we
detect any unusual activity on their accounts," he said.
He urged customers who believe that their ATM or debit card may
have been compromised to contact the bank immediately at
1800-220-1111 or visit any DBS/POSB branch.
"We are treating the matter with utmost priority and would like to
assure customers that they will be fully compensated, for any
unauthorised
withdrawals, within 24 hours. We will also issue replacement
ATM/Debit cards on-the-spot at any DBS/POSB branch," he
added.
As of 8pm Thursday, 200 customers have informed the bank of
unauthorised withdrawals, and the
average amount withdrawn was about S$1,000 per account.
How it could have happened?
Security expert, Jason Lim, 34, described to Yahoo! Singapore how
the fraudulent withdrawals could have been made possible.
A shop owner in one of the shops in Singapore could have used a
card skimmer to clone an exact copy of victims' ATM card when they
make payment. Meanwhile, a CCTV camera would have recorded the
process of victims entering their PIN codes. This is known as
Point
of Sale (POS) skimming.
After committing the same crime over and over again to more
victims, the culprit then made his way to ATM machines in Malaysia
in January 4 this year to execute the fraudulent withdrawals.
