Duped clients ask banks to be more careful about scamsters

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  Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Naznin Sultana hands a cheque to bdnews24.com journalist Mahbuba Akter Dina.Clients who found their money withdrawn through ATM fraud have advised banks to be more vigilant about security measures.The call came on Thursday at the Bangladesh Bank during a ceremony where Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) repaid clients who fell prey to scamsters.The bank had identified that 24 of its clients’ money was with drawn after their personal information was stolen by skimming devices installed at ATM booths. Five of them were handed over cheques on Thursday while the rest were reimbursed in bank accounts.The fraud came to light after ‘freak transactions’ over Thursday and Friday were reported. Altogether, Tk 2.59 million were stolen from the accounts of 36 clients of four banks, including EBL. Tk 1.75 million alone were stolen from 24 clients of EBL.

Mahbuba Akter Dina speaks at Thursday's programme at Bangladesh Bank.

After a foreigner was caught on CCTV footage at a United Commercial Bank (UCB) ATM booth at Banani, police are now keeping five foreign nationals under surveillance as they resemble the suspect.

In the footage, the man was seen installing in the ATM a skimming device that was used to steal the clients’ information.

One of the EBL clients who lost money was bdnews24.com journalist Mahbuba Akter Dina. She lost Tk 80,000.

Dina was the first client to notify both EBL and the central bank of the fraud.

At Thursday’s programme, she said, “I was stunned when I saw that Tk 80,000 had been withdrawn from my account. I hadn’t withdrawn it and had my card with me. Then who could have done that?”

“Then I called the bank’s customer care to complain and block my account.”

She and other victims urged the banks to be more alert to prevent such fraudulent activities.

Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Naznin Sultana hands a cheque to bdnews24.com journalist Mahbuba Akter Dina.

Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Naznin Sultana admitted that the banks had failed to thwart the frauds, but also urged the clients to be more aware.

“Such frauds take place in developed countries too. But compared to them such incidents in Bangladesh are lower in number.”

She said the central bank wanted to fully digitalise the banking sector. “The world is moving ahead. We need to utilise technology over these incidents.”

Sultana urged all banks to begin SMS alerts and follow the central bank’s directives.

EBL Additional Managing Director Hassan O Rashid apologised to the victims of the fraud and said, “We’ll try to make sure that such incidents will never happen again.”

Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Subhankar Saha said the other three banks will repay their clientswithin one week.