Business | Banking
Banks step up alerts over ATM card fraud
Several leading banks and card companies downplayed the fallout of the latest ATM and credit card fraud as customers panicked and made incessant calls to the banks to find out more about the situation, and those affected thronged different branches to put forward their claims for reimbursement.
- By Gaurav Ghose, Financial Features Editor
- Published: 00:30 September 12, 2008
Dubai: Several leading banks and card companies downplayed the fallout of the latest ATM and credit card fraud as customers panicked and made incessant calls to the banks to find out more about the situation, and those affected thronged different branches to put forward their claims for reimbursement.
Cititbank, HSBC, Emirates NBD, Dubai Islamic Bank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank are among those affected or see a potential threat that could affect their operations.
Both MasterCard and Visa issued statements saying that they are cooperating with the law enforcement authorities and the banking industry on the latest breaches. Almost all banks have since Thursday sent alerts via SMS to their customers to change their PINs and in some cases asking them to remain vigilant by checking their balances every few days.
Industry sources informed Gulf News about a leading domestic bank shutting its ATM operations for a few hours early Thursday.
Though most banks maintained that a small number of customers have been affected by the sudden counterfeit usage of the payment card abroad - all added together would run into thousands - they, however, acknowledged that this time it was different from previous cases of ATM card fraud and identity theft.
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