BDO pays ATM skimming victims

The hackers then use a fake ATM card to withdraw funds from the victim’s account  (Photo: BDO Unibank/Facebook)

MANILA – – A ranking Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) official dubbed as positive  the decision of Sy-led Banco De Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO) to pay its account holders who have reported to have been victimized by ATM skimming even as investigations are on-going.

This after BDO President and CEO Nestor Tan told reporters during the annual Bankers’ Night held Friday, January 19, that the universal bank paid its clients victimized by skimming.

Skimming is an illegal way of obtaining information of an account holder using a machine that resembles an ATM card slot. Once a client inserted the card in the “fake ATM card slot”, embedded personal details were captured.

The hackers then use a fake ATM card to withdraw funds from the victim’s  account.

BDO earlier called on its account holders to report to the bank any unauthorized transaction.

It also assured its clients that measures are being undertaken to ensure the safety of its account holders’ funds.

BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier said BDO’s decision was part of the liability shift rules implemented by the central bank since January 1, 2017.

This rule was put in place as a safeguard to any fraudulent activity as banks transition to the use of  Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) technology, in compliance with BSP requirements.

However, banks have yet to fully comply with this program, thus, monetary officials have given them until June 30, 2018 to comply or pay the corresponding penalties.

Fonacier said most of the automated teller machines (ATMs) in the country are now EMV-compliant and the issue was on the ATM cards due to the volume  issued.

In the case of BDO, the central bank official declined to give figures on how many cases have been reported or the amount compromised,  saying there are several reports that she already lost track of these.

She said banks were required to pay the supposed victims within 10 days after receiving the report but this did  not happen because of the investigation.

She said that based on the BDO reports to the BSP, some of these skimming cases happened overseas, probably in areas where EMV was not being used.