This just gets worse. The common thread, seems to be Visa and international network connections – but this Royal Bank problem takes us back to fraud. It says that 65,000 cards have been compromised and cancelled by the issuers. As asked here, "So what’s really going on? Is there a security breach or a vendor issue?" Given there are now two Banks involved, I would suggest there must have been a compromise at a payment / acquirer centre, probably in the US, and there will be more Banks involved before this is over. More to come! Massive Citibank Alert: UPDATE … Continue reading Royal Bank of Canada is having similar issues ( to Citibank ATM breakdown)

More on this story .. turns out there is a claim from Citi officials, that its a technical network problem and not fraud? The problem is confirmed as affecting access in Canada, UK, and Russia. Yet the Boing Boing story was referring to customers having to have their PIN changed. Seems there is more to this problem, with worldwide Citibank. Citi are not handling this very well … more to come. Relevance to Bankwatch: Banks are judged more on they manage and address problems, and lack of transparency makes it worse. Massive Citibank Alert: UPDATE – Consumerist They’ve known about … Continue reading Massive Citibank ATM failure

That last post which emanated from the Boing Boing piece on ATM fraud cries out for some perspective. Of course everyone gets excited about ATM Fraud, and its terrible when you are personally involved. But then so are airplane crashes. Bad metaphor I know, but stuff happens, and there is stuff you can do as a consumer to prevent it. One of the challenges of the technology banking world, is that everyone assumes technology is perfect, and that any error/ crime/ event is the fault of the technology and the Banks that implemented it. If only that were true.

So with that rant out of the way, on with the ATM fraud story; some fact, case studies, and hopefully some perspective.

Continue reading “ATM Fraud & security – some perspective”

This post on the surface, suggests that Citibank is indicating to their customer that compomises on all Canadian ATM's requires them to cut off access to their customers. Aside from how well Citi handled this, I think this it is more plausible that this customer used a machine at a specific ATM location that had some fraud perpetrated. I am not aware of any situation where an entire country is under suspicion as the article seems to suggest. I know the customer is frustrated, but the issue here is actually broader in many respects – its a worldwide issue and … Continue reading Citibank under fraud attack, customers locked out of accounts in Canada, UK, and Russia