Foreign-based syndicateAn official of the Expressnet ATM network said that investigations initiated by the local banking industry all point to an international organised crime network aided by locals.
"Based on our investigations, these activities were traced abroad to some Taiwanese, Malaysians, Sri Lankans and even Bulgarians," said Mike Bernabe, the Expressnet vice president for operations.
Using the information captured by the illegally installed card readers from the ATM cards, the syndicates are able to make balance inquiries and know exactly how much to withdraw. Most accounts are cleaned out within hours via multiple withdrawals, since the syndicates also know the transaction limits for each account.
Innocuous-lookingThe exact amount of cash that has been lost to this syndicate has not been fully quantified but the president of another large local bank estimates the value to be in the "millions of pesos" since the scam began.
The devices that are used to read the ATM cards' magnetic strips-where crucial account data are stored-are innocuous-looking and can even be bought from vendors over the Internet, Tan explained.
Bernabe said that local banks have managed to seize some of these illegal devices and have sent them overseas for further investigation.
"We sent some of the devices abroad to MasterCard because they have more sophisticated technology that can decipher the data," he said, adding that the initial findings pointed to a foreign-based operation.
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