KL blames criminals for ATM card thefts

KL blames criminals for ATM card thefts

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's central bank on Saturday
charged that criminal syndicates were behind a rash of automatic
teller machine (ATM) thefts with "cloned" cards which has sparked
fears of a run on the country's banks.

Bank Negara Malaysia chief Ali Abul Hassan Sulaiman said in a
statement that its probe of the ATM card incidents revealed
criminal syndicates were behind the thefts.

"Virtually all the unauthorized ATM withdrawals were due to
the cloning by syndicates of the ATM cards issued by two
commercial banks and one non-bank financial institution," he
said.

Ali Abul, who did not name the affected banks, said his bank
had been directed to take a number of measures, including
enhancing ATM systems to detect and retain cloned cards.

Other steps will include improving internal controls,
especially with regard to the process that generates the cards'
security numbers, closely monitoring transactions, and
identifying suspicious withdrawals, he said.

"Although in terms of proportion, the number of cases of
unauthorized ATM withdrawals only accounts for three out of
100,000 of ATM transactions, the bank is treating this matter
seriously.

"It would continue to monitor the situation closely to ensure
that the problem is eradicated as soon as possible," he added.

Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warned Friday that unless
something was done to check the problem, the public would lose
confidence in the institution and start a run on the country's
banks.

Abdullah, who is also deputy prime minister, said that would
be a disaster.

"Do not dismiss cases of unauthorized ATM withdrawals as
customers' negligence but get to the bottom of the matter," he
was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times newspaper on
Saturday.

A senior spokesman at police headquarters in Bukit Aman told
AFP a special unit of the commercial crime division has been
formed to tackle the problem.

"We are investigating. Reports (of monetary losses) are
increasing," he said, but was unable to provide details.

Since April 1, police have received more than 250 reports of
unauthorized bank withdrawals totaling 500,000 ringgit
(US$131,579).

Newspapers and the state Bernama news agency Thursday said
most affected were branches of the Ban Hin Lee Bank Bhd (BHL
Bank), but that other banks had also been hit.