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Malaysian thieves withdraw cash from Thai ATMs

July 7, 2003

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KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia -- A Malaysian-Thai syndicate stealing data from Malaysian banks to clone ATM cards is using the information to make illegal withdrawals from affiliated banks in southern Thailand.

According to a report in The Star, authorities do not know how much money the syndicate has siphoned off so far. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Norian Mai said police from both countries were exchanging information to locate the culprits.

"Previously, syndicates only used cloned credit cards to buy goods but now we have this new group using our ATM card data to make the withdrawals, especially in Sungai Golok, Narathiwat, Haadyai and parts of Bangkok," he said.

Federal commercial crimes director Deputy Comm Hairuddin Mohamed said losses incurred nationwide in 2002 through cloned cards was 3.96 million ringgit (about $1 million U.S.) in 2002, up from 3.86 million ringgit in 2001.

Police last year smashed several syndicates using spy cameras installed at ATMs to illegally obtain data of cardholders before making off with millions of ringgit. (See related stories Malaysian thieves siphon money from accounts, They're baaaaack; Malaysian authorities discover illegal camera at ATM and Malaysian authorities warn banks about ATM fraud)

However, he said no fraudulent withdrawals have been reported since the introduction of the Malaysia's new national bank card that is embedded with a computer chip. (See related stories Malaysia extends deadline for converting ATM cards to chipand Malaysia hopes to drive more debit with chip cards)

All banks are expected to replace ATM cards with the new cards by September, according to The Star.

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