KARACHI: Recent reports of unauthorized transactions have prompted a call for heightened debit card security awareness among Pakistani bank customers.
Some users have experienced financial losses after allegedly utilizing third-party apps on their mobile devices.
Addressing these concerns, a Private Bank in Pakistan issued a statement emphasising that no data breaches have occurred within their systems, reassuring customers that their personal information remains protected.
The bank clarified that the reported incidents primarily occurred from unsecured online activities on untrusted platforms. They are actively working with international payment systems to resolve these issues through the chargeback mechanism.
To safeguard their funds, customers are advised to:
- Transact only on reputable and well-known platforms.
- Avoid using public Wi-Fi networks for online banking or financial transactions.
- Be vigilant of phishing attempts, such as emails or SMS messages requesting sensitive information like card details or One-Time Passwords (OTPs).
- Immediately report any lost or stolen cards to the bank.
The Bank reassured its customers that they can continue to utilize their cards confidently on trusted websites while enjoying the convenience of cashless transactions.
Read More: Karachi citizens suffer online debit card scam before Eid
Back in April 2022, Karachi citizens suffered from an online debit card scam before Eidul Fitr as the customers of three banks were affected by suspicious transactions.
According to the initial report, the customers of three private banks were affected who have contacted their concerned banks.
The officials said that the complaints surfaced in the last two days regarding an online fraud through the Google search engine for the transactions. Small transactions were made through the bank accounts of different citizens in global currencies.
The affected citizens have also registered their complaints with the cybercrime cell of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). The officials said that it is difficult to ascertain the exact number of affected citizens through the online scam.
Earlier in January, an additional session judge of Gujranwala had lost cash from his bank account in online fraud.
According to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cybercrime wing, the judge had received a call from the accused who took information about his bank account by presenting himself as a representative of the bank.
After getting the information, the accused namely Abbass, Hashim and Abdul Shakoor had withdrawn Rs500,000 from the bank account of the additional session judge.
Acting on the complaint, the FIA cybercrime wing had arrested the three accused and registered a case of fraud against them.
