BSP officials downplay ATM fraud in PH
MANILA, Philippines—Central bank officials allayed the situation of automated teller machine (ATM) fraud in the country, as they told the lawmakers on Thursday that the incidence rate is only 0.07 percent in 2013.
During the House of Representatives inquiry by the bank and financial intermediaries committee on Thursday, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) official Melchor Plabasan said there is less than one in 100 Filipinos who are victimized by ATM fraud.
It is essentially negligible compared to the global incidence rate of 25 percent based on a Nasdaq report, he added.
“It”s a global concern particularly in Middle East and US. The global average is 25 percent or one in every four consumers,” Plabasan said.
“In the Philippines, based on the BSP data, it’s 0.07 percent or less than one in every 100 consumers… Hindi naman siya ganung kagrabe (It’s not as worse off) compared to the global average and the size of the market itself,” Plabasan said during the hearing.
He said the BSP is doing its best to control the situation.
At the sidelines of the hearing, Plabasan refused to give the raw figure for the 0.07 percent, saying their figure is only based on the complaints relayed to them by banks.
He said the percentage is not based on the complaints relayed by consumers to smaller banks.
Asked why the BSP allayed the situation, legal head of the BSP’s Office of the Deputy Governor Atty. Prudence Kasala said there is first a need to look at the effectivity of law enforcement in prosecuting suspects who are arrested for ATM fraud.
The police strengthened its operations against ATM fraud syndicates as two Bulgarians were arrested in May for allegedly cloning ATM cards in San Fernando, Pampanga.
“While there have been apprehension, foreigners being caught, it hasn’t really ripened to an imprisonment. We need to look at what’s wrong with either the enforcement or prosecution. We need to improve on how we prove the case,” Kasala said.
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