Bank depositors hit by online card fraud

CEBU, Philippines — Several depositors of the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) have complained of the unauthorized withdrawals from their accounts.

Most of the victims are employees of the Cebu provincial government whose payroll accounts are with UCPB.

The bank management, in a statement, admitted receiving several complaints on unauthorized online purchases from some of its visa cardholders.

The bank assured depositors that proper processes are being undertaken to recover the accounts affected by what it described as “online card fraud.”

“We would like to clarify that this is not due to system hacking. No system of the Bank has been compromised. This is due to online card fraud,” the bank clarified.

“We would like to assure the affected cardholders and all our visa cardholders that there’s a process in place to recover unauthorized transactions from online merchants,” it added.

One of the victims who requested anonymity said that there were series of unauthorized withdrawals made in Australia and the United States from her account.

The bank encouraged cardholders to report suspicious transactions immediately to their 24/7 ATM Hotline at (02) 8119292 or to their maintaining branch.  Reimbursement and replacement of the affected cards will be given priority by the bank.

The bank also reminded its cardholders to keep their cards, especially the card details, secure at all times.

“We also encourage our cardholders to update their mobile number and email address with the Bank so they can get timely notifications on their card transactions,” UCPB said in a statement.  (FREEMAN)