Eastern Bank yesterday reimbursed the victims of the recent ATM card fraud.
A total of Tk 17.53 lakh was given to 24 clients, the bank said in a statement.
Nazneen Sultana, deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, handed over a
reimbursement cheque to Mahbuba Akhter, one of the affected EBL card
users, on behalf of the private bank at the central bank headquarters in
Dhaka.
The move comes a week after EBL said about two dozens of its
card-users fell prey to fraudsters who used duplicate cards to steal
money from ATMs.
This had prompted the bank to shut down all its 200 ATM booths for
six hours. The central bank then asked EBL to compensate its clients.
The BB also directed all banks to install anti-skimming devices,
conduct regular monitoring of video footage, and not to allow any
unauthorised people to install or repair any device in the ATM booths.
Foreigners are believed to be involved in the skimming racket that stole money from the ATMs.
The central bank, EBL, United Commercial Bank, City Bank and police
analysed the video footage of four ATM booths that were taken for at
least Tk 25 lakh.
Fraudsters installed skimming devices at four ATMs -- two of EBL and
one each of UCB and City Bank -- to steal data from debit cards used in
the booths.
City Bank has so far received claims from clients for Tk 1.4 lakh.
The BB has found that more than 200 cardholders have lost data.
BB Executive Director Subhankar Saha, EBL Additional Managing
Director Hassan O Rashid and Head of Consumer Banking Nazeem A Choudhury
were also present.
