Confusion reigns in ATM card alert

Ominous messages send customers rushing to banks, as some find tens of thousands of dirhams taken from their accounts while others are told their cards may be cancelled.

Customers queue at an HSBC ATM machine at Al Wahda Mall.

ABU DHABI // When Akram Mirza learnt that 39 illegal transactions were made on his Visa debit card in the Philippines on Saturday and Sunday, he panicked. When he learnt that nearly Dh30,000 had been withdrawn from his account, he was devastated. Mr Mirza, a German national working in Abu Dhabi's oil industry, is now waiting for Citibank to reimburse him. Mr Mirza, who shares his UAE debit account with his wife, said: "My questions were, first, on which card were the withdrawals made, my wife's or mine?" he said. "And they couldn't answer that question, which I found bizarre.

"And then I asked, 'Isn't there a limit on the daily withdrawal you can make?' And they said, 'Yes, in your case, it's Dh10,000'. It was clearly not enforced." Mr Mirza and thousands more people who use the nation's interlinked banking network have received messages telling them to change the personal identification numbers for their ATM cards. Miriam al Hilali, 24, a student of the University of Westminster in the UK who works here for a subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, expressed concern that whoever illegally charged Dh8,200 to her Visa debit card yesterday knew details of her bank account.

"It's like the thieves knew my information. They knew I had a credit limit of Dh5,000 for outside the country," said Ms Hilali, whose card was issued by the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. She said the transactions, made in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were in two increments, each just below the limit. "How can they know this sort of information?" she said. "I feel used. I'm really upset." She is also concerned because the bank is disputing her claim. "I told the bank they had to repay me, but at first they said it wasn't their fault. I told them I would take them to court over this even if it was only Dh80."

Even though banking officials say that only a small number of people were directly affected by the fraudulent transactions, there is a sense of distress and confusion for some. The banks that have sent messages to their customers have been curt, even confusing. The HSBC hotline, for example, told customers yesterday to change their PINs before 6pm, or face having their ATM cards cancelled. The bank, however, said there would be no mass termination of cards. "The only circumstances when HSBC will block a card is when the bank sees fraudulent transactions taking place on that card," Jonathan Campbell-James, HSBC Middle East's head of security, said in a statement. "In such cases, HSBC will contact the customer, advise them what has been done, organise a refund and issue a new card free of charge."

But as 6pm approached yesterday, dozens of HSBC customers joined long queues at ATMs because they were still being warned by the bank's phone operators that their cards would be blocked if they did not change their PINs in time. "HSBC told me at 4.45pm to change my code or else they were going to block my card," said Wael Jundi, 28, a financial adviser at SinoGulf, as he waited in a 30-person queue at Al Wahda Mall yesterday.

"This is a disaster. They have to give me a reasonable time to change my card. What if I was on vacation or something?" As HSBC, Citibank, the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and other major financial institutions warned their customers, patrons of other banks said they received no such admonitions. Joseph Joy and his wife, Bindu, said they had not received warnings from their banks, Mashreq Bank and the National Bank of Dubai.

"We haven't received any warnings or text messages," said Mr Joy, with his wife nodding in agreement. "I mean, we heard rumours about something happening, but they're not sending us messages or anything like that." Outside the offices of several banks in Abu Dhabi yesterday - including the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Mashreq Bank and the National Bank of Dubai - only a few people appeared to be banking, none with the urgency seen at other banks.

In spite of the somewhat confusing text warnings issued by some banks, customers were relieved that they were alerted to the fraud. Angie Davidson, 45, said her husband, in Pakistan on business, received a warning text and immediately phoned her to change the PIN on their HSBC card. "The text really concerned him, so I came to change the card," said Mrs Davidson, who expressed surprise when informed of the extent of the fraud. "I'm glad I came now."

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