Hanoi (VNA) - In light of recent widely reported cases of banking fraud relatedto automatic teller machine (ATM) transactions, the State Bank of Vietnam(SBV) has advised the public to remain calm and adhere to banks’ regulations,while urging the banks to plug security holes.

The PaymentDepartment under the SBV reported early this week that in 2016, out of thetotal 70 million transactions at 100 million ATMs, the number of fraud caseswas not significant. 

Nonetheless,Government agencies and institutions in the financial and banking sector havebeen authorised by the SBV to increase security levels within the bankingsystem.

Nguyen Toan Thang,Secretary General of the Vietnam Banks Association, said that commercial banksare co-operating with public security departments to fix these securitybreeches, while the SBV frequently monitors banks’ security levels. 

Commercial banksfrequently alert their account holders to information leaks, fraudulentpractices and at the same time seek to establish air tight interbankinformation exchanges to protect their customers and themselves.

However, the SBValso warned that the nature of ATM card fraud is complex and changing, with awide array of manoeuvres available to criminals - from phishing, identity theftto illicit malware installation, especially with mobile devices, to obtainaccount information and passwords from cardholders. 

One such caseoccurred at the Dong A Commercial Joint Stock Bank in April, wiping out 129million VND (5,766 USD) from a customer’s account.

Last week, seventransactions from a Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank)account were made, totalling 30 million VND (over 1,300 USD). The account ownersaid he received text messages informing him of the change of his accountbalance on May 14 morning.

Vietcombank’srepresentative told Viet Nam News that its contact centre was contactedthe same day by the said customer. The bank promptly locked the account andhelped him carry out necessary procedures. The bank said his rights would beensured if he did not make the transactions himself.

Serious proceduresmust be taken by commercial banks to protect their customers, which includesending warning messages to customers about swindles, encouraging customers tochange their PIN regularly, registering SMS notifications of all changes in theaccount balance and updating personal information.

To minimise risks,Vietcombank recently announced adjustments of conditions for using internetbanking services. However, customers claimed the new regulations placedunreasonable responsibility on the users. Vietcombank immediately suspended thenew regulations.

After many otherthefts, which always occur at midnight, many banks have cut short theirautomated service hours. For example, Agribank announced that its ATM servicewould operate from 6am to 9pm, instead of offering 24/7 online transactions asregulated by the central bank.

Regardless of thepublic backlash against bank security measures, it is reasonable to assume thatboth the customers and the banks are at fault. “This signals gaps in themanagement of credit cards in particular and in the bank’s security in general.The most urgent requirement now is to mend the gap in the banking system’ssecurity," a banking expert told the Vietnam News Agency.

Furthermore, at aconference on online security in late 2016, Jason Yuen fromErnst & Young Malaysia Advisory Services said there would never be acompletely reliable network, especially for the banking sector. Yuen predictedthe number of hacking incidents affecting Vietnamese banks would grow, and theywould continue to be hard to trace and stop.

“Banks should takethese security threats as a systemic risk, which means that without a precisestrategy, a bank that invests 20 million USD in online security is no saferthan one investing 10 million USD,” he advised.

A 2016 report fromRussia’s Kaspersky Lab on spam and phishing showed that Vietnam was the secondoriginator of spam and junk mail in the world.-VNA