BDO provides victims of unauthorized withdrawals with refunds

BDO Unibank Inc. refunded money that some clients lost through unauthorized transactions.

"Investigation is ongoing and many have already been refunded after it was confirmed that their accounts were indeed subjected to unauthorized withdrawals," an BDO information officer from revealed.

The bank officer added that the BDO investigation found that the unauthorized transactions were done by "fraudsters."

"Corrections have been effected and amounts were credited back to the accounts," the officer emphasized.

The total amount refunded to the clients affected by the unauthorized withdrawals had yet to be disclosed by the bank.

BDO, likewise, posted the announcement in its Facebook account.

Reports

Last week, netizens reported that there were unauthorized withdrawals from BDO accounts.

Among those who were reportedly victimized was Michicko Marzo, a 35-year old teacher in Indonesia.

In an online message, Marzo said six transactions were made using her BDO account on December 27, 2017. Her account was charged P19,813.42.

Marzo explained that it was impossible for her to make the transactions as these were made in the United States.

She also shared several photos of "victims" of similar unauthorized BDO transactions.

Following the reports, BDO admitted that there was an "extraordinary rise in fraud attacks" in the entire banking industry during the fourth quarter of 2017, "with an increase in the number of claims for unauthorized transactions taking place in other countries."

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), meanwhile, was also looking into unauthorized withdrawals from certain BDO savings accounts.

The unauthorized withdrawals were also raised by several individuals with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). — DVM, GMA News