DBS chief apologises for ATM fraud incident

DBS Group Holdings CEO Piyush Gupta has made a public apology to DBS and POSB customers affected by an ATM skimming fraud that resulted in unauthorised withdrawals last week.

Gupta, who was speaking at a DBS private bank luncheon on Wednesday, said the bank regretted the anxiety and inconvenience caused by the incident, which he said could have happened to any bank, Channel NewsAsia reported.

According to the Straits Times, Gupta also said the DBS will introduce new measures, such as SMS alerts for withdrawals above a certain threshold, to enhance security.

This is not the first apology by Gupta to bank customers. In July 2010, he wrote to DBS and POSB customers saying sorry for the inconvenience caused by the sudden disruption of banking and ATM services for seven hours on 5th July that year.

DBS last week said it will compensate 400 customers a combined total of S$500,000 for unauthorised withdrawals found to have resulted from a security breach at two of the bank’s ATM machines in Bugis.

In a press briefing on Friday, bank officials said the bank’s investigation into recent unauthorised withdrawals showed that anti-skimming devices had been breached in two ATMs along Bugis Street in late November.

A total of 2,700 customers had their ATM cards compromised, but only 400 had unauthorised transactions amounting to S$500,000 deducted from their bank accounts via ATM machines in Malaysia on 4 and 5 January, bank officials said.