GONE in 30 minutes
Joe FernandezPublished: Jul 4, 2009 12:12 AM | Updated: Jul 4, 2009 1:54 AM
Two customers in as many days have lodged police reports in Kota Kinabalu alleging that funds in their bank accounts were illegally transferred online to Indonesia.
The cases happened about three weeks apart and police reports were filed but there seems to be an apparent reluctance on the part of the bank concerned to reimburse the victims.
Two customers in as many days have lodged police reports in Kota Kinabalu alleging that funds in their bank accounts were illegally transferred online to Indonesia.
The cases happened about three weeks apart and police reports were filed but there seems to be an apparent reluctance on the part of the bank concerned to "reimburse" the victims.
It is learnt that there has been a spate of such cases recently bringing the known tally in recent months to almost 80 cases.
In the latest case, a Maybank customer (who did not want to be identified) alerted the local media about funds missing from his savings account in Kota Kinabalu after he had banked in a cheque for RM19,000 at a Maybank branch in Kuala Lumpur.
Three days later, upon his return home, he discovered that RM10, 000 of the RM19,000 that he had deposited earlier, was missing from his account after checking at a Maybank branch in the Donggongon township in the suburbs of Kota Kinabalu.
By the time he got to the Lintas branch, where he maintains his account, "another RM5,000 had gone missing", according to him.
It takes about 30 minutes to reach Lintas in Kota Kinabalu from Donggongon during heavy traffic.
"When I queried the bank, they informed me that the funds had been transferred over the internet to an account in Indonesia," he complained to local media after lodging a police report.
"The cheque was from a national cooperative for me to start a new business."
"I don't have a PIN (personal identification number) with Maybank for internet banking, nor did I apply for one."
Still waiting for money
After 10 days, the bank is yet to reimburse him for the missing money and he faces the prospect of servicing a loan which he never received.
In yet another case, a Sadong Jaya Maybank account holder similarly lost RM 1,000 which she had deposited at the bank's Karamunsing branch which is a stone's throw away at the heart of
Kota Kinabalu.
Again, the customer did not have a PIN for internet banking, and neither did she apply for one.
"I have been waiting for more than a month for the bank to reimburse me," said the victim who requested anonymity like the first.
The latest cases reported to the police follow an apparent lull after a spate 40 fraudulent transfers in Tawau several months ago.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department T Murugiah to made a visit and pledged a full investigation some time ago.
Nothing has been heard so far.
A spokeswoman for Maybank's Public Affairs Division in Kota Kinabalu said that an investigation was being conducted into all cases alleged illegal online transfer of funds from accounts.
She did not disclose the number of cases the bank was investigating.
"We are still in the process of getting to the bottom of these irregularities," she said.
Meanwhile, Bank Negara Malaysia has put the blame squrely on the account holders.
The central bank is convinced that account holders must have unwittingly given away their particulars.
A BNM spokesperson has cautioned that the public warning them to be wary of calls, mobile phone messages or e‑mails asking for passwords and personal identity numbers (PIN) of bank accounts.
This would prevent unscrupulous parties from using such information to misappropriate funds from their bank accounts, the spokeswoman added.
"Banks will never request for personal information," said the spokeswoman.
No PIN, no withdrawals
"They are certainly not going to request for any personal information that they have already collected about the account holder upon registration. They have no reason to request for any other information.
"We have received many complaints nationwide and not just in Sabah only."
The spokesperson disclosed that BNM was working closely with the industry, the police and relevant government agencies to ensure "the robustness of our banking system in deterring fraudulent activities".
A source in the internet banking department of another bank, could not comment on cases where bank account holders without an internet PIN, could have their monies withdrawn.
He could not see however how a third party could apply for an internet banking account without the knowledge of the account holder.
Internet PIN is different from the PIN used for the bank account, he added, "and in the case of a first-time transaction involves, for security reasons, the sending of an image code to the mobile phone of the account holder to complete the transaction".
Generally, internet banking is a simple, hassle‑free and secure, according to the spokesperson.
Most banks, it appears, employ the 128‑bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) which is one of the strongest encryption technology most commonly used by large‑scale merchants, banks and brokerages worldwide.
Encryption is a method of scrambling information by rendering it unreadable to protect its transmission across the internet.
Decryption reverses the process so that the information becomes readable again.
"Both encryption and decryption require the use of a special code, usually referred to as the key," said the spokesperson.
"The encryption of data provides a strong degree of protection against tampering while it is moving through the internet."
Which begs the RM64 question: ‘How then is it being done?'
The cases happened about three weeks apart and police reports were filed but there seems to be an apparent reluctance on the part of the bank concerned to "reimburse" the victims.
It is learnt that there has been a spate of such cases recently bringing the known tally in recent months to almost 80 cases.
In the latest case, a Maybank customer (who did not want to be identified) alerted the local media about funds missing from his savings account in Kota Kinabalu after he had banked in a cheque for RM19,000 at a Maybank branch in Kuala Lumpur.Three days later, upon his return home, he discovered that RM10, 000 of the RM19,000 that he had deposited earlier, was missing from his account after checking at a Maybank branch in the Donggongon township in the suburbs of Kota Kinabalu.
By the time he got to the Lintas branch, where he maintains his account, "another RM5,000 had gone missing", according to him.
It takes about 30 minutes to reach Lintas in Kota Kinabalu from Donggongon during heavy traffic.
"When I queried the bank, they informed me that the funds had been transferred over the internet to an account in Indonesia," he complained to local media after lodging a police report.
"The cheque was from a national cooperative for me to start a new business."
"I don't have a PIN (personal identification number) with Maybank for internet banking, nor did I apply for one."
Still waiting for money
After 10 days, the bank is yet to reimburse him for the missing money and he faces the prospect of servicing a loan which he never received.
In yet another case, a Sadong Jaya Maybank account holder similarly lost RM 1,000 which she had deposited at the bank's Karamunsing branch which is a stone's throw away at the heart of
Kota Kinabalu.
Again, the customer did not have a PIN for internet banking, and neither did she apply for one."I have been waiting for more than a month for the bank to reimburse me," said the victim who requested anonymity like the first.
The latest cases reported to the police follow an apparent lull after a spate 40 fraudulent transfers in Tawau several months ago.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department T Murugiah to made a visit and pledged a full investigation some time ago.
Nothing has been heard so far.
A spokeswoman for Maybank's Public Affairs Division in Kota Kinabalu said that an investigation was being conducted into all cases alleged illegal online transfer of funds from accounts.
She did not disclose the number of cases the bank was investigating.
"We are still in the process of getting to the bottom of these irregularities," she said.
Meanwhile, Bank Negara Malaysia has put the blame squrely on the account holders.
The central bank is convinced that account holders must have unwittingly given away their particulars.
A BNM spokesperson has cautioned that the public warning them to be wary of calls, mobile phone messages or e‑mails asking for passwords and personal identity numbers (PIN) of bank accounts.
This would prevent unscrupulous parties from using such information to misappropriate funds from their bank accounts, the spokeswoman added.
"Banks will never request for personal information," said the spokeswoman.
No PIN, no withdrawals
"They are certainly not going to request for any personal information that they have already collected about the account holder upon registration. They have no reason to request for any other information.
"We have received many complaints nationwide and not just in Sabah only."
The spokesperson disclosed that BNM was working closely with the industry, the police and relevant government agencies to ensure "the robustness of our banking system in deterring fraudulent activities".
A source in the internet banking department of another bank, could not comment on cases where bank account holders without an internet PIN, could have their monies withdrawn.
He could not see however how a third party could apply for an internet banking account without the knowledge of the account holder.
Internet PIN is different from the PIN used for the bank account, he added, "and in the case of a first-time transaction involves, for security reasons, the sending of an image code to the mobile phone of the account holder to complete the transaction".
Generally, internet banking is a simple, hassle‑free and secure, according to the spokesperson.Most banks, it appears, employ the 128‑bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) which is one of the strongest encryption technology most commonly used by large‑scale merchants, banks and brokerages worldwide.
Encryption is a method of scrambling information by rendering it unreadable to protect its transmission across the internet.
Decryption reverses the process so that the information becomes readable again.
"Both encryption and decryption require the use of a special code, usually referred to as the key," said the spokesperson.
"The encryption of data provides a strong degree of protection against tampering while it is moving through the internet."
Which begs the RM64 question: ‘How then is it being done?'
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