Dozens of Faysal Bank’s customers were shocked when they received SMS and Email alerts about the withdrawal of significant amount of money from their accounts without their use or knowledge.
This is the second time the customers of Faysal Bank Limited have been victims of skimming attacks. Similar cases were reported back in December 2015 by customers, who were clueless when their money was stolen and transferred from their accounts to some unknown place.
The bank’s management tried its level best to prevent such attacks but it failed when hackers from different countries hacked customers’ details and transferred their money from their accounts to their own kitty, a senior banker at Faysal Bank Limited said.
Last time, the bank failed to recover the money. Instead, it had to compensate customers within forty days from its own profits, according to a senior banker at Faysal Bank Limited.
On the condition of anonymity, a source at Faysal Bank said:
Skimming attacks cost hundreds of thousands of rupees to the bank in my region but this amount could be millions considering the number of victims across the country.
Unfortunately, the recovery process for the money once a customer realizes that they’ve been hacked is laborious. Bankers doubt the victims in the initial stages and this adds insult to injury.
A senior banker said:
We do compensate every customer who becomes victim of such incident. We as procedure investigate the matter and refund the money although the terms and conditions signed by customer with bank do not guarantee repayment of such loss of money.
Faysal Bank Limited is a mid-tier bank with increasing number of customers using plastic money (credit and debit cards). However, skimming attack in such frequency are highly concerning for customers who will be reluctant to use advanced services offered by banks such as mobile/internet banking and credit/debit card service.
The bank should invest on security of customer data otherwise they will lose customer confidence and their accounts as well.
The central bank should also take notice of the frequent hacks on Pakistani banks through proper investigations and research of the previous attacks. It should also instruct banks to compensate victim customers timely rather than exploiting them unduly at the mercy of bankers.