Poe calls for swift, transparent probe on bank hacking incident
Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies chair Senator Grace Poe on Sunday urged the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to dig deeper into the online banking hacking incident that hounded BDO account holders, saying such incident need to stop in the face of the growing preference for online transactions in the country.
“Unauthorized withdrawals from hacked accounts that are transferred to other bank accounts must stop,” Poe said in a statement.
“We urge the BSP to be swift and transparent in its investigation on these and similar incidents,” the senator stressed.
The complaints of disgruntled BDO account holders who were scammed filled social media platforms where they pointed out that their cash were transferred by the scammer to one Mark D. Nagoyo that has multiple UnionBank accounts.
Many Facebook Page groups of the victims claimed and assured that none of them clicked a link from a message, short messaging system (SMS), or email, eliminating a possibility of a phishing attack.
One of the victims claimed he got alerted that P50,000 from his account was directly transferred to a UnionBank account. Others experienced unauthorized transactions from their BDO online banking account starting Nov. 29 until Dec. 11 and are allegedly continuing.
The Bangko Sentral Governor Ben Diokno said the BSP has been monitoring the cases and complaints and are now in close coordination with BDO as well as UnionBank officials on the incident.
But Poe said while the banks have vowed to return the money depositors lost, such mechanism is insufficient.
“While the banks vow to return the money depositors lost, it is not enough,” the senator reiterated.
“Where does the trail end? Who are the people involved? Kani-kanino dumaan yan (To whom did the money pass through)?” Poe pointed out.
“Unless the BSP and the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) get to the bottom of this, it could happen again. We don't want depositors to lose their trust in their banks and the banking system,” she stressed.
Poe pointed out that the banks “are victims here, too, but they control the situation and manage their own security systems.”
“The manner by which the BSP deals with shortcomings and failures of banks can also be a factor and deserves to be re-evaluated. Banking is about trust,” the lawmaker stressed.