No need for alarm; public urged to be vigilant

BANKS are working closely with the police to make sure that local accounts are not hacked by a suspected international card fraud syndicate operating in Cebu, an official said.

Cebu Bankers’ Club president Maximo Rey Eleccion said the police informed their group’s security committee last Friday about the group’s movements.

At least a hundred international customer reward cards confiscated from a Romanian national last September is shown to the media. The cards were used to hack accounts of European citizens.

“There should be no cause for alarm because as you can see, they have already been apprehended by the police. But everyone should still be careful,” Eleccion said, referring to the two Romanian nationals who were arrested last Saturday night after withdrawing cash from an automated teller machine (ATM) in Mandaue City using fraudulent cards.

The suspects, who were charged for violating the Access Devices Regulation Act, are suspected of being members of a card fraud syndicate that hacks foreign bank accounts and “harvests” the money via ATMs by using fraudulent cards.

It was the second card fraud-related arrest made in Cebu in just two months. Last September, a Romanian national was also arrested and charged for trying to withdraw cash from an ATM using consumer rewards cards.

“Of course it would be possible that they (syndicate) might also ‘harvest’ from local accounts but so far, we have received no reports on that. Those were credit card accounts of Europeans and they’re just harvesting them here,” said Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) director Leonides Sumbi.

Eleccion said banks were upgrading their ATMs as well as credit and ATM cards to combat fraud.

He said all existing credit cards now have microchips instead of magnetic strips as a preventive measure. Next to be replaced will be the magnetic strips in ATM cards. The target is to replace everything with microchips by the end of 2016, Eleccion said.

“It’s very expensive for the banks but we have no choice. It’s also safer for our clients and cardholders, and their security and that of their accounts is priority,” he added.

Sumbi said the central bank has directed banks to  regularly monitor their machines for skimming devices, rigged pads and cameras.

Last month, the bankers’ group issued an advisory listing some preventive measures that the public can take. These included making sure the ATM area is secure and has security cameras, going to only one or a few familiar machines to withdraw or deposit, using machines within bank premises for additional security, not divulging the card’s PIN, and changing the PIN regularly.