TAIWAN - Taiwan's Ministry of Finance pledged to safeguard the interests of bank account holders after a recent ATM scam drained the savings accounts of at least 36 Bank of Taiwan (BOT) clients.
Finance Minister Lin Chuan said, "The interests of depositors will be fully protected. Local banks should take full responsibility and guard against the risk of similar fraud."
According to a Taiwan News report, the ATM scam is expected to cost the bank at least NT$3.78 million ($11,176 U.S.) Seven banks, including ChinaTrust Commercial Bank and the Land Bank of Taiwan, disclosed similar recent cases of account fraud.
To restore consumer confidence, Lin refused to reveal the latest information about how many banks had suffered similar ATM scams and how much money has been withdrawn using duplicated ATM cards, claiming the information would hamper the police investigation.
"We hope (the confidence of) local depositors will not be negatively affected by the incident," Lin said, but he added that he could not rule out the possibility of similar ATM fraud in the future.
Most of the BOT victims had accounts at the bank's Tainan branch, but their money was withdrawn through ATMs in central and northern Taiwan, said Lee Shang-yann, president of the bank.
The BOT has approximately 6 million customers with 2.66 million ATM cards in circulation, although only 1.7 million ATM cards are active, according to Lee.
The investigators found illegally installed cameras at the BOT Tainan brach, allowing the thieves to steal card holders' PINs and later use the information to make duplicate cards, said Chou Yew-wei, brigade captain of the National Criminal Investigation Bureau's seventh Investigation Corps.
The police on Oct. 13 revealed two videotapes showing two criminals getting cash from a BOT ATM and a Fuhwa Commercial Bank ATM in Taipei county. The criminals withdrew a total of NT$110,000 ($3,235 U.S.) from the two ATMs, according to the police.
"As local consumers find it increasingly difficult to avoid ATM and credit card scams that drain their accounts, chip-embedded ATM cards will gradually replace traditional ATM cards," said Pan Wei-jong, sales director of Financial Information Service Co., Ltd. (FISC) "I believe recent ATM scams will speed up the launch of IC chip ATM cards."
FISC monitors and processes cash transactions at 18,000 ATMs throughout the nation. Only 300 ATMs islandwide have completed upgrades to provide services to chip-embedded ATM card holders, according to the Taiwan News.
While only 13 banks currently have chip-embedded ATM cards in circulation, Pan expects the number to increase to 70 by March. He expects chip-embedded ATM cards to replace all 50 million traditional cards within the next five to six years.
