Money in bank vanished

[scorecard]

On 10/13/2021 at 12:48 AM, bbko said:

My Bangkok Bank does SMS notifications for withdraws over 500 baht, one year 170b.

Mine gives me an immediate SMS for EVERY transaction, 200Baht per year.

[dabhand]

2 hours ago, MJCM said:

Of course, you are correct, simplicity has it's merits.

 

But maybe one word of caution, I have no idea if it's true because a friend of friend told me this but there must be some truth in there.

(Ps: This did not happen in Thailand but in another SE-Asian Country)

 

This Friend flew from Europe with his Brand new (never used) Credit Card. Arrived at his destination, went in to a Bank to get a Cash Advance on his Credit Card. Approx 1 week later his Home bank in Europe called him and said, are you buying goods in the US of A? He said "No I am still in SE-Asia never left the country."

 

So he came to the conclusion the only place where the copied his Card was within the Bank where he got his cash advance!!

 

The card was cancelled and that was a pain in the .... for him!

 

Ps: Another Interesting article

 

https://www.techtimes.com/articles/266679/20211014/bank-robbers-used-deepfake-voice-for-35-million-heist-ai-enhanced-voice-simulation-used.htm

 

Same happened to me in KL some years back. I was there for a few days on business and used my CC for a cash advance (at MBB ATM near Lot 10). Travelled back to uk for a few days at my HO before heading back to my base in Cairo. Tried to use the card at LHR duty free departure. It was rejected and used other card then contacted my CC bank (Natwest), They informed me that my card had been blocked after numerous cash advances had been taken. I confirmed only had one advance and they cancelled the card and eventually refunded the extra charges. Amounted to  about Stg3k.

 

Malaysia is a well known hotspot for such fraud and likely why my bank had no issues with the refund. Was surprised that the ATM pulls were allowed to go to a level that was above my daily limit so possibly some internal issues with MBB that allowed that.

[BritManToo]

5 hours ago, scorecard said:

Mine gives me an immediate SMS for EVERY transaction, 200Baht per year.

Bank app on your phone does the same for free.

[scorecard]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Bank app on your phone does the same for free.

Thanks, learn something every day.

[Jenkins9039]

On 10/12/2021 at 8:33 PM, john smith said:

was for 34.15 Baht

Same happened to me, it was 'google store', continuous charges of 34 baht

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, dabhand said:

Same happened to me in KL some years back. I was there for a few days on business and used my CC for a cash advance (at MBB ATM near Lot 10). Travelled back to uk for a few days at my HO before heading back to my base in Cairo. Tried to use the card at LHR duty free departure. It was rejected and used other card then contacted my CC bank (Natwest), They informed me that my card had been blocked after numerous cash advances had been taken. I confirmed only had one advance and they cancelled the card and eventually refunded the extra charges. Amounted to  about Stg3k.

 

Malaysia is a well known hotspot for such fraud and likely why my bank had no issues with the refund. Was surprised that the ATM pulls were allowed to go to a level that was above my daily limit so possibly some internal issues with MBB that allowed that.

I had an incident of trying to use my Thai issued UOB credit card at a duty free shop at KLIA. As soon the card started processing, the process stopped and with perhaps 10 seconds I got a live call from UOB in Bkk.

 

Polite young man from UOB Bkk explained that KLIA is a severe hot spot for CC fraud/theft of data etc., and the shop I was in was is top of the negative list. He finished by saying, sorry but we will not process any transactions based at KLIA. 

 

I was very glad to get his call and glad that they refused to process the transaction. 

[mstevens]

I see this is now a big story in the mainstream news with hundreds (or more) people reporting multiple withdrawals from their account in rapid succession. Seems to be an issue with these digital wallets too.

[DrDave]

Reminds me of what happened to my Bangkok Bank account earlier this year.

I've been in the US since the beginning of the lockdown (Jan 2020), and have never used my BBL debit/ATM card to purchase something either online or at a store, and no automatic payments are setup against this account. The only usage of the card has been in an ATM (always a Bangkok Bank ATM), and it has not been used since leaving Thailand in January 2020. 

 

This is an account that I use as a "slush fund", very rarely making deposits or withdrawals, so I was never diligent in checking the balance while in the US.  I finally got around to checking my balance using the website in June of this year, and was shocked to find that my account had been nearly drained by deductions taken every 10-14 days starting in May 2021 (16 months after the last time the card was used). Each deduction was labeled as an "eCard" payment, however I have never requested or setup an eCard. Oddly enough, each payment was for the Thai Baht equivalent of $100USD.  Further investigation revealed that the payments were facilitated though Google Payments, an app that I've never downloaded or setup. Obviously someone was able to link my account to their Google Payments account, so I filled out the required online forms for Google Payments to investigate. After 2 weeks, Google Payments responded with a terse message saying they could not find any evidence of fraud, so case closed. They wouldn't provide any additional information, such as who the payments were made to, or who was the owner of the Google Payments account that was used.

 

Given that BBL doesn't have an online means to report fraud, a 12 hour time difference and potential language difficulties, I'm just going to consider this a learning experience. When I return to Thailand, I'll have a conversation with BBL about this, and cancel any sort of eCard as well as my ATM card. I do 99% of my banking with K-Bank, so not a big loss however I'd like to keep the BBL account active considering how difficult it can be for foreigners without a work permit to open an account.

[Henryford]

On 10/15/2021 at 2:36 PM, orchidfan said:

As quoted earlier (or above somewhere ) my "loss" of nearly B12,000 included 2 withdrawals/transfers to the very same "STEAMGAMES.COM". 

Luckily, due to the BB,sending SMS alerts,  I was able to identify the transactions and immediately cancel the card. 

That's strange, i recently had charges to my UK credit card from "Steam Games". They hit the account several times with a  50 GBP charge ( i guess the maximum before it raises questions). Luckily the bank noticed these many similar charges and alerted me and i finally got the charges deleted. I never had an account with Steam Games or gave them my credit card details so heaven knows how they managed to hack the account.

[Berkshire]

The OP appears to be one of roughly 10,000 victims....

 

[They reported that an online group that reports criminal activity indicated there had been 10,000 victims in a single day.

 

Many banks were affected.

 

Each case involved lots of small sums being removed from accounts under the name "goods paid for via EDC".

 

Under 100 baht was extracted multiple times with some people having their accounts completely emptied.]

 

 

 

[gk10012001]

Recent post in another forum says thousands of people got the same amount repeatedly taken from their accounts that were typically linked to on line payments.

[lopburi3]

They are reporting 40,000 accounts and cards are being suspended by Thai Banking Authority due to suspect hacking.  

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/central-bank-tba-suspend-credit-debit-cards-following-suspicious-deductions/

[Enzian]

This makes me feel good again about having my Visa money in a Foreign Currency Deposit account. Credit or debit card not possible, just a plastic ID card that is only for me to present with my passport in person at a branch. I never set up online banking. I have a baht account with debit card I never use, 5000 baht in it. 

The downside is that I can't do much from here in the US, but like MacArthur, I shall return.

Edited October 18, 2021 by Enzian
spelling

[mtls2005]

A lot of the charging accounts seem IT related.

 

I wonder if this is somehow related to the collection of VAT for "Digital Services" as of 1 Sep? And some API allowed for a hack?

 

https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG210901151223224

 

 

 

[KannikaP]

On 10/14/2021 at 3:09 PM, KannikaP said:

The minimum you can withdraw from an ATM is Bht 100. Troll.

I apologise for this remark after seeing the latest statement picture. I was led to believe that the withdrawals were made at an ATM  and not online transactions. Sorry.

[orchidfan]

1 hour ago, Berkshire said:

The OP appears to be one of roughly 10,000 victims....

 

[They reported that an online group that reports criminal activity indicated there had been 10,000 victims in a single day.

 

Many banks were affected.

 

Each case involved lots of small sums being removed from accounts under the name "goods paid for via EDC".

 

Under 100 baht was extracted multiple times with some people having their accounts completely emptied.]

 

 

 

Yes, my 3 deductions totalling 11,880 baht were listed (on the mobile app) as "purchase via EDC".

Luckily I cancelled the card immediately so no more went out.

If, as you report, some 10,000 accounts are affected,  it's no wonder BB Fraud section are a little slow in resolving the matter (although they did email me the next morning in Thai and English, advising to cancel the card and make a police report....both done.)

But that was 10 days ago now !

[trainman34014]

On 10/12/2021 at 10:44 PM, Jingthing said:

Well I don't agree. I spend from it via ATM and top it up annually with an international transfer. I'm comfortable that it won't be illicitly drained with the notifications. I think immigration likes to see spending too though it isn't required.

You will probably think this is a moot point but what Immigration like to see or not see in your account is none of their business; their only concern should be that the required funds for your next Extension are in place in the required time frame and apart from that they should keep their noses out.   Three times in 15 years i have been asked and once 'told' i should use at least some of the money and my question is always 'Why ?'   Naturally they have no proper answer !

[bulmercke]

2 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

A lot of the charging accounts seem IT related.

 

I wonder if this is somehow related to the collection of VAT for "Digital Services" as of 1 Sep? And some API allowed for a hack?

 

https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG210901151223224

 

 

 

Makes you wonder.

 

[Jingthing]

46 minutes ago, trainman34014 said:

You will probably think this is a moot point but what Immigration like to see or not see in your account is none of their business; their only concern should be that the required funds for your next Extension are in place in the required time frame and apart from that they should keep their noses out.   Three times in 15 years i have been asked and once 'told' i should use at least some of the money and my question is always 'Why ?'   Naturally they have no proper answer !

They're police. They have the right to ask all the questions that they want. I wouldn't toy with them. They have all the power. We have none.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

very bad news for thailand.

thai banking industry allready has bad reputation, and now such bad news will

spread rapidly.

i stopped using my thai cards alltogether after few incidents, not fraud.

in one case i was denied boarding to a flight because the thai card was not

respected (but charged !!) and SWISS airlines asked me to pay in cash.

i asked the SWISS AIR agents on phone why did'nt they told me BEFORE the flight,

and they could not explain. took long time to get the money back.

in few other cases, my thai card was charged TWICE for same flight, and later the

amount was refunded. they said they did it because of many fraud cases from thailand.

[JetsetBkk]

Looks like I dodged a bullet:

  

On 10/12/2021 at 8:33 PM, john smith said:

When I updated my bank book some 80 withdrawals in a twenty hour period were listed. Each withdrawal was for 34.15 Baht.

Are you sure it wasn't for 36.14?

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by JetsetBkk

[bendejo]

For the past few decades (at least) it has not been unusual to find a newspaper article in Malaysia or Thailand telling of how they busted a bunch of Chinese lads with a briefcase full of stolen credit cards.  Maybe what we are seeing here is a change in tactics.  On the other hand I wouldn't be surprised to learn that someone at the top of the scam is a LE poobah.

 

Once I bought an MAL ticket online for a local flight out of KL.  Checked in, took my time getting to the gate as I had an hour to kill.  When I got there I handed the attendant my boarding pass.  She then turned her head slightly to the side and said something brief, and out came another airline employee and two uniformed policemen.  The airline guy seemed stunned to see me.  Not so long story short, I paid with a CC on a US bank and that sent up a red flag, according to airline guy.  It was all settled within a minute.  Not unusual for Asian people to think my name is Chinese, so I think the combo of a Chinese name and a foreign CC is what set them off.

 

Like it or not, this thing going on now is black eye for Thai tourism.  Fuggetabou the million-tourist New Year's Eve with an opera star initiative.

 

 

[jphasia]

Well, definitely something going wrong with the banking system at this time.

I live in Thailand for long time, but came 1 year ago in Vietnam for work.

When I arrived in Vietnam, I used my Thai debit card (Krungsri) the first week only to withdraw cash here before I could open a local bank account. After a week, I got a bank account here with debit card so stopped using my Thai debit card.

My Thai debit card is registered to get the service of SMS notifications.

This week, I recieved a SMS notification for a payment of 6,700bahts done with my Thai debit card. No OTP were requested.

I called then Krungsri hotline and they told it was a purchase from Philippines Airlines. Never purchased anything from Philippines airlines.

As it was evident that it was a fraud, the bank cancelled my card, invited me to go to my local branch, get a police report and fill a form for investigation. As I will be back to Thailand next month, I will do that.

 

[orchidfan]

Bangkok Bank have refunded just one third of the money taken from my account. 

Have submitted all the reports to them, and have now called their Customer Service 3 times to complain and enquire why they haven't refunded the last B8000, and pointed out that the Central Bank of Thailand has stated (last week ?) that customers would be refunded within 5 days. 

Ha!

 It's now 3 weeks since the money disappeared !

Not sure who I can appeal to now?

[Firefan]

I have been hit too Bangkok Bank - multiple small charges with lowest being around 25 Baht and highest around 200 Baht All "purchased via EDC" Spread over 6 months at least (hard to see if any are actual real charges as no further description on BKK Bank ibanking.

Totals to estm 3k Baht.

Called them but was on wait for an hour. Will go see them tomorrow.