BPI ATM scam saga continues

The deeper I get myself into this BPI ATM scam that recently victimized a BPI depositor of more than P80,000, the more I get to have an impression that our banking public is up against some tremendous odds in securing their hard earned money through ATM systems and even credit cards.

For those of you who may not have followed our columns for the past weeks (sorry, I missed last week for being very much under the weather) or may need to have a rehash of the unsettling incident, here goes.

(However before I do retell the story, I would like to establish my main goal in this exercise, and that is to warn the banking public of the otherwise unknown perils in the ATM banking system, even possibly including that of the credit cards, for them to be wary and careful so as not to fall victim to present day heists. Rip-offs that seem to be already known to many in the banking system yet no adequate efforts have been exerted to warn the public about, especially the trusting depositors. It is also my objective that the public would not have to suffer for systems security breaches and such inadequacies.)

A long time BPI depositor, who even has investment placements in the said bank, ran out of cash on a non-banking day, a Sunday.

Where to run in such a situation? Well, as the BPI’s and other banks’ print and TV ads say when they have been selling this very convenient banking tool to the public…"Go to your nearest ATM."

The ATM is undeniably a convenient way of banking, but we should not forget that the convenience does not come free, a depositor must maintain a certain minimum balance or else a fee is paid to the bank. The service is definitely not free. Being such, the bank has its responsibilities to keep this banking service safe.

Ok, so the depositor went to the nearest BPI branch with a stand- alone ATM machine outside (most BPI branches in the Metro have) along Sucat Road in Parañaque, where the victim was at that time. After all the necessary keys for a withdrawal were pushed, the words "This machine does not dispense cash" came out on the screen. The victim upon reading the electronic advice that there was no cash in the machine patiently waited for the machine to give back the ATM card. But this did not happen and as the victim was trying to retrieve her card, someone came along and told the victim that a similar incident had happened to him and offered to help retrieve the card, but to no avail. Disappointed, both of them left.

So, it was a Sunday. You need cash. You go to the ATM machine to withdraw. Your card gets swallowed – no card, no cash. ATMs are convenient? Tell me about it.

But that’s not the whole story. When the victim went to the bank branch where the ATM machine that swallowed the card was located, the said BPI branch declared that the said card was nowhere to be found. And when the records were finally put together a whopping P80,000 plus have been withdrawn from the account from several ATM machines in the metro. Inadvertently, the victim was also apprised by one of the clerks that that was the fourth reported case on the same machine on that particular weekend. When the victim went further to report the incident to the mother branch of the account, some BPI insiders confided that the scam has been known (either only within the BPI alone or in the banking circles was not made known) and even has a name for it – Lebanese Scam.

So, there’s a known scam. Did the BPI know about it? If some of its own employees volunteered the info, and several cases are already known, the bank must know about it, right? Did BPI or the banking system exert adequate efforts to warn depositors about the scam? Have you seen any of these warnings together with BPI’s or other banks’ radio, newspaper and television commercials and other promotions? Do you see big visible posters in BPI ATM booths and others warning about the scam or other perils of the system?

If one would tally the answers to the preceding questions, obviously the depositors were not adequately forewarned about the on-going security breach on the BPI’s ATM system. So what happens now to the victims? Will BPI just stand firm and regard them as just that, victims? Statistics to consider while their experts try to overcome the glitch?

Being a long time and trusting depositor of BPI bank, I was confident that this would not be so. The bank’s long record of being a trustworthy custodian of hard earned money and lifetime savings would not be cast aside for a few thousand pesos lost primarily not due to a depositor’s fault but more to inadequacies like security breaches or lack of information dissemination.

But by the way things look, together with the countless depositors of BPI, it seems that I will be very disappointed – It looks like the BPI will just leave the victim by the wayside.

The last communication that the victim received from BPI was that it was unlikely that withdrawals could be made without the knowledge of the depositor’s PIN. Is it saying that the integrity of the PIN in the banking system cannot be compromised unless revealed? Was BPI saying that the victim was not telling the truth and just making up the story for personal gains?

A reader, Ms. Jean B. Lara reacts to our first column published regarding the incident and I’m reprinting some parts of her letter…"I am a credit card holder for sometime. However, I found out last week that my credit card was stolen from my wallet. I immediately notified my bank and was informed that a cash advance was made a couple of days before I discovered the loss of my card. Naturally I was shocked because no one knows my PIN number and I mean NO ONE, not even my family.

Ms. Maricar L. Testa, a concerned reader writes,"Thanks for your article on the BPI ATM scam. I’m sure a lot of ATM users are not aware of this and that the BPI must inform its clients re what precautions to take."

The victim lost more than P80,000 and by the manner the letter of Ms. Teresita B. Tan, senior vice president, head, card banking division of the Bank of the Philippine Islands, is being interpreted by most who have read it, it now appears that the BPI is doubting the truthfulness of the incident. Now it appears that the victim has turned into a lying suspect? This, despite having a retired senior VP of BPI vouching for the victim’s impeccable integrity, as he personally knows the victim, but to no avail.

In the midst of all these the victim can only utter in disbelief and total disillusionment, "My God, what has become of BPI, this institution that I once most trusted?"

The local banking system authority should really step into this already. There must be a lot of those victims, maybe with less in amount, but a lot lesser in life, who may have already lost hard earned savings through these security breaches in our ATM, credit card and other banking systems and suffering in silence.

Millions are being spent on advertising and promotions by banks in convincing the banking public to make use of various banking products and services. Is there anything substantial or adequate being spent to warn the public about the perils of the systems?

The BPI ATM saga continues….

Mabuhay! Be proud to be a Filipino!!!

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