Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has taken serious notice of the rising incidents of online banking frauds where fraudsters obtained contact details of clients by impersonating as bank officials to get information of their account details and then using these details to grab money out of clients’ accounts.
According to a press release issued here on Saturday the president directed the Banking Mohtasib of Pakistan (BMP) to take immediate notice of this worrisome trend and take substantive and meaningful measures by enabling appropriate checks and balances, and foolproof solid security systems by using latest technology capable of differentiating between the original and fraudulent transaction attempts to check this menace on an urgent basis.
The president expressed his concern over the recent reports related to an online bank fraud wherein imminent novelist and playwright, Mirza Athar Baig, was deprived of about Rs 1.1 million from his bank account by an online fraudster.
Meawnhile, the president’s secretariat, under the direction of the president, has communicated with Mirza Athar Baig, while advising him to lodge a complaint and formally raise the matter with the office of BMP to get relief in case the bank was unable to resolve the issue and compensate him within the stipulated time period.
Increase in online bank frauds, scams
Arif Alvi said that it was upsetting that fraudulent incidents and practices in the banking sector were on the rise despite the fact that scores of such fraud cases had been decided by him through BMP and relief had been provided to the victims of the online frauds.
The President also stressed upon the need of bringing about structured and systematic improvements in online banking mechanisms by identifying the fraudulent persons immediately and taking strong exemplary punitive actions against them.
The president underlined that all the banks should collectively launch an awareness campaign through different outlets of media, conventional and digital, to aware and educate the customers about the safe and secure use of online banking platforms. Meanwhile the banks should also ensure compliance with the directions and prescribed SOPs of the State Bank of Pakistan about the use of online banking facilities with ease, comfort, and security.
