International Transactions Ban as Pakistan Bank Suffer Cyber Attacks

The United Bank Limited (UBL) today said it has suspended international financial transactions through debit cards of its customers as it suffers cyber attacks.

A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the action was a step taken in the right direction to prevent further fraudulent financial exchanges through cards. He said that the attackers collected the spoils of the exploits in dollars, which suggests that they are not Pakistanis.

The high official said the bank received some complaints from their customers regarding some unauthorized transactions. However, he maintained there was no incidence of a cyber attack on the bank. He reiterated that there was no data breach or hacking.

The spokesperson claimed cybercriminals deceived the debit card holders into revealing their pins and other critical information that was needed to enable transactions. However, customers can still carry out international transactions by “switching it on.”

Who Suffered Cyber Attacks?

While the bank claims no such attack happened, one customer named Shuah Mir said her UBL Mastercard got hacked on April 19, and $65 was deducted. She claims to have received no calls or texts from the criminal and the funds were removed “out of the blue.”

Mir transferred all available money from her account to a friend and lodged a complaint with the bank’s customer support. However, she kept receiving emails of failed transactions and called the financial institution to refund the stolen cash.

The highlighted user claimed that she personally went to the bank to file a complaint and found she wasn’t the only affected customer.

Pakistan has recorded an increase in cybercrimes lately. Most of these crimes include debit card fraud, afflicting leading banks in the country and being carried out using foreign currencies.

The location of the cyber criminals is yet to be disclosed. However, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is investigating the incident as it has received multiple reports in connection with the hack.