THE Cebu Bankers Club (CBC) assured all verified victims of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) skimming that they will refund their stolen money.
It was discovered during a meeting yesterday with Cebu City Councilor David Tumulak, Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), CBC, and at least 10 victims that roughly P3 million was stolen from 15 verified victims.
“It was also learned that majority of the accounts victimized were payrolls. CCPO is conducting intelligence gathering and CBC is assisting them. They will also automatically refund verified victims,” Tumulak said in an interview yesterday.
Sun.Star Cebu tried to interview CBC representatives Maximo Rey Eleccion, Mario Fritz Palileo and Carmela Go after the meeting adjourned, but they had to leave immediately due to another appointment.
As a preventive measure, Tumulak said the bank representatives urged depositors to change their cards to EuroPay, Mastercard or Visa (EMV), as cards with magnetic stripes are vulnerable to skimming.
EMVs, the global standard for cards, have master chips embedded in them.
The CBC representatives explained that personal information can easily be hacked through magnetic scanners, but with the EMV made with advanced technology, it is safer for depositors.
Portable scanners
The pronouncement came after CCPO revealed that thieves are now using portable scanners that can capture personal information, even without the use of an ATM.
For legislative measures, Tumulak required all banks to install closed-circuit television (CCTVs) cameras within their ATMs.
This came after representatives of CBC admitted that the ATMs of some banks do not have CCTVs.
Tumulak also wants banks to check the ATMs for skimming devices every hour.
The CBC is also required to provide the CCPO with photos and videos of suspicious personalities caught on CCTV to help fast-track the arrest of suspects.
The club said it will also launch a text messaging update system, where a depositor will be asked to confirm a transaction of P5,000 and above.
The CCPO has yet to verify whether the separate cases were a result of skimming or breach of security system, which would mean economic sabotage.
It urged the public to be vigilant by double-checking ATMs and to immediately block their accounts if unauthorized transactions have been made.
“Up to now (yesterday) they (CBC) have not presented any explanation as to why they can’t present any confiscated device. Skimming devices need power supply, especially the counterfeit card reader. We can’t really say it it’s skimming or breach or security system,” Tumulak said.
According to police reports, the culprits use a foreigner to make unauthorized withdrawals within the city and a local when stealing money in farther areas, such as the City of Naga.
Tumulak explained that this is to prevent raising suspicion as foreigners conducting banking transactions in a highly-urbanized city is a “common sight.”
The councilor discovered only last Nov. 9 that several unauthorized transactions were made in his Landbank of the Philippines payroll account since September.
Although he refused to disclose the total amount stolen, the latest unauthorized withdrawal was P50,000, on Nov. 9.
Tumulak said he has been saving his monthly salary as he plans to retire from politics in 2019.
“I can’t sleep at night with the thought of the suspects still at large. If this continues, this will cost the economy millions,” he said.
In a related development, Police Regional Office 7 Director Noli Taliño said they will secure banks and ATMs by checking on them during the lower units’ regular patrol.
Taliño said they already asked banks to send technicians to check their cash dispensers in the City of Naga, where 13 persons reportedly lost their savings through unauthorized withdrawals.
From Nov. 15 to Nov. 20, the skimmers had stolen P897,000.
Most of the victims had withdrawn their savings from two ATMs in a department store in Barangay East Poblacion.
Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Eric Noble said he did not receive reports of ATM skimming in other towns.
