After using ATMs on Witthayu Road in Bangkok, 43 people complained that money had been siphoned from their bank accounts, and police investigations revealed the stolen money had been withdrawn from machines in the Ukraine.
A customer uses a Kasikornbank ATM machine at Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre. (Photo by Somchai Poomlard)
The missing amounts varied from 30,000 to 70,000 baht, Pol Maj Chaiya Kongsup, superintendent of Lumpini police station, said.
The complainants told police they used their ATM cards to withdraw cash from ATM machines at All Seasons building and Rolex building on Witthayu Road in Lumpini district. They later found their account balances were way below the level they should have been.
On Thursday, a message began circulating on social media advising people not to withdraw money from ATM machines owned by Kasikornbank, stating that their accounts could be hacked and money transferred elsewhere or stolen by using overseas ATMs.
Pol Maj Chaiya said police investigators working with bank officials had found the money had been withdrawn in the Ukraine.
Kasikornbank has sent messages to its customers over several channels, including Line application on smartphones, affirming that they can still use its ATM machines as normal without any worries.
The bank said it would accept responsibility for the copying of information from debit cards of Kasikornbank and other banks at two or three ATM machines at buildings on Witthayu road.
The Thai Bankers Association acknowledged the ATM theft and announced that the banks would be responsible for all damages, but reminded ATM users to shield their hands from view while using ATM keyboards to register PIN codes.
One of the complainants, Phakamas Withitham, said both Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) and Bangkok Bank called to inform her that there were three withdrawals in the Ukraine of money from her accounts at about 2am Wednesday, with a combined amount of over 30,000 baht.
She said she has accounts with both banks at All Seasons building. The banks instructed her to report the matter to police and that the banks will investigate the case within 60 days.
She said she was no longer confident about the safety of her money deposited with the banks.
Kbank's executive vice-president Pakorn Partanapat said the bank had found a total of 117 accounts had had information skimmed but only 38 had been hit by the thieves with a total of 270,000 baht stolen. The bank will return the money to all affected clients.
He said the ATM machines of five banks had data skimmers attached which read the magnetic bar at the back of debit cards and ATM cards.
The technology was used once around five years ago and all banks installed devices to protect customer information. But the cases had re-emerged, so the banks would have to find other ways to stop thieves from mining customers' cards, Mr Pakorn said.
Five customers from SCB _ one of the five affected banks _ have lost a total of about 100,000 baht after their cards were skimmed by a device hidden on machines at the Witthayu Road branch, SCB executive vice-president Pongsit Chaichutpornsu said.
Bank customers are also advised to register for SMS notifications when account transactions are made.