By Muhammad Luqman
After depriving bank account holders in the Southern Pakistan town of Karachi, the hackers are now targeting the bank customers in Rawalpindi , the twin city of the capital, Islamabad.
More than thirty accounts have been compromised in Rawalpindi as hundreds of thousands of rupees have been transacted from the accounts of a private bank’s customers, according to media reports.
The unsanctioned withdrawals from a bank located in Rawalpindi’s Saddar district has caused panic among the account holders as it points towards the presence of ATM hackers in the twin cities.
However, the bank’s management seems to be helpless in the face of the debacle, the victims say that they have been assured by the bank manager that their money would be returned within 45 days.
Following the rise in the skimming incidents, more than 1,800 ATMs have been blocked across the country, the bank’s administration has sought the State Bank’s help to deal with the issue, added the manager.
Falling prey to an ATM skimming fraud earlier, hundreds of citizens in Pakistan had lost millions of rupees in December 2017.
Following complaints that were registered with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) by hundreds of banking customers across the country, an investigation was launched into the fraud.
At least six Chinese men accused of being a part of an organised ATM skimming gang were arrested in Karachi last week, according to media reports.
While ATM skimming can be regarded as an identity theft for debit cards, scammers use different techniques to record the victim’s PIN code.
Some of the techniques used by fraudsters to access a customer’s bank account include sticking a fake card-reader on the ATM, placing a fake keypad on the machine to steal his or her PIN code, and the use of a hidden camera that records the PIN code entered by the customer.
