Pakistan's leading bank comes under grip of cyberattacks

Cybercrimes in Pakistan are seeing a surge in recent days with data of many debit cards affiliated with a leading bank in the country being compromised following which overseas cybercriminals are conducting fraudulent financial transactions in foreign currencies.

Cybercrimes in Pakistan are seeing a surge in recent days with data of many debit cards affiliated with a leading bank in the country being compromised following which overseas cybercriminals are conducting fraudulent financial transactions in foreign currencies. After the event, the financial institution took to action and suspended the international financial transactions through debit cards of almost all the customers, reported The Express Tribune.

A United Bank Limited (UBL) high official confirmed to the media outlet that the fraudulent transactions were conducted in dollar denominations instead of Pakistani rupees. "We are under no cyber-attack. No data breach or hacking has happened," said the official adding, "But, yes, we have received complaints from some of our customers for fraudulent transactions through their debit cards."

Cybercriminals bluffed the debit cardholders and secretly acquired the details to conduct the fraud. Customers have unintentionally given the PIN code and passwords to the criminals and were trapped in their plot. According to the official, anyone who is now looking to use the international service will have to now first switch it on. The changes were made to ensure the safety of the transactions. "Multiple fraudulent transactions of small amounts from several accounts took place," the official said, reported the newspaper.

Pakistan's probe agency, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) also received multiple complaints however later industry officials only named UBL as an affected bank by the cybercriminals. One of the customers Shuah Mir said, "My UBL Mastercard got hacked on April 19, 2022, and USD 65 was deducted out of the blue before Iftar time," Sohaib Irfan said on a social media platform.

"I immediately transferred all the money to a friend's account and registered a complaint with UBL customer support and they blocked my card temporarily." "I am still getting texts of failed transactions due to blocked cards like someone is trying over and over again."

"I have filed the dispute on April 20, I want you to reverse the unauthorised transaction. I have noticed many other users facing the same issue within the past week so it would be better if we report this to the FIA." (ANI)

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