BPI/BDO

Mauling
Glitch
BPI ( Bank of the
Philippine Islands)
June 7,2017

BPI account holders claimed on social media

that they have lost a huge sum of money and
some even found their account being debited
or credited twice for a transaction in the past.
 June 7,2017

“Due to an internal data processing

error, some clients may have seen their
accounts debited twice or credited twice
for a past transaction.”
“Please accept our deepest apologies as our
electronic channels [ATMs, Express Online,
and mobile app] remain deactivated as we
aim to resolve the matter at the soonest time
possible,” BPI said in an advisory to clients
at 3 p.m.

“We assure you that the integrity of your
accounts will be maintained. We thank you
for your continued patience as we work to
resolve this internal system issue
satisfactorily,”
the bank said that they have already
identified the internal system error that
is causing the transactions which
occurred between April 27 and May 2
to double-post on June 6.
that they are currently suspending
access to their electronic channels to
speed up their rectification efforts to
remedy the issue. Clients may not be
able to log on to their BPI Express
Online apps and website until their
system is rectified.
 “In the process of rectifying balances of accounts with
June 8, 2017
mis-posted transactions, we have noted that certain
accounts
There stillsome
are still reflectaccounts
incorrect balances.
that haveTo allow us to
incorrect
balances. Here’s
do the BPI’sadjustments,
necessary official statement
we willon thattomatter:
need
de-activate our electronic channels today.
Clients will continue to be serviced by our branches,
which will be open until 7:30 pm today. Furthermore,
our other banking systems, such as credit cards,
remittance, SWIFT, equities brokerage (BPI Trade),
investments, and loans remain operational.
You have our commitment that this internal system
issue will be resolved satisfactorily. We reassure our
clients that the integrity of their accounts will be
maintained.”
June 9, 2017
Access to their electronic channels such as
ATMs, online banking, and mobile banking
has finally been fixed since 9:00pm of June
8, 2017

"As we expect an initially high volume

of transactions, you may experience
traffic-related difficulties in accessing
online and mobile channels, but we
anticipate this to normalize very soon,"
BPI Senior Vice President Catherine P.
Santamaria said the problem was caused by
internal error and not due to hacking.

A female “specialist” of the Bank of the Philippine

Islands (BPI), who owned up to the computer
glitch
DICT’s statement:
Assured the public outage of the BPI online
facilities that week was not an act of
cybercrime
Initial investigation showed no apparent
hacking had taken
IT expert’s statement( Lito Averia)
While some customers reported negative
balance, there were also some who
reported being instant billionaires
ATM networks are separate from bank’s
main system
BPI’s President statement:
The bank system picked up the wrong files or
transactions when it ran a batch process Tuesday
evening.
Data processing glitch was an internal issue not a
case of hacking

“I’d like to emphasize that when we complete this

process, we will make sure that no one, I repeat, no
one, has lost money. I apologize very earnestly and
very sincerely to our clients who had been affected
this
 BDO Unibank has received reports of "potentially
compromised ATMs (automated teller machines)," it
revealed in a statement Friday.

 The bank called on its customers to report suspicious
transactions at once, and assured them they would protect
cardholder accounts.

 "Customers with unauthorized transactions may reach out to
the bank via formal channels so that their cases may be
properly investigated and, where confirmed as impacted,
may be reimbursed," the statement read.

 "BDO would like to reassure the public that it exerts all efforts
to protect its cardholders and their transactions," the bank
added.
 Meanwhile, officials of Banco de Oro also explained
questionable ATM transactions on June 16.

 Edwin Romualdo Reyes, BDO Transaction Banking Group
executive vice president, pointed to ATM skimming.

 "Skimming is the unauthorized copying of the magnetic stripe
information of the ATM cards," Reyes said.

 READ: BDO announces 'potentially compromised ATMs,' calls
on customers to report unauthorized transactions

 He explained the culprits used illegal devices to access the
magnetic stripe which contains the depositor's information, along
with the personal identification number to complete a
transaction.

 lot of news)," he said.
 Reyes said they traced three separate incidents, affecting
seven out of the bank's 3,700 ATMs in three different
locations.

 "Skimming has been going on for quite a number of years
already...However, new technology makes skimming
devices...very cheap, and easy to produce," Reyes said.

 The Bangko Sentral had issued a directive requiring banks to
convert all ATM systems to adopt the Europay, MasterCard
Visa (EMV) system for added security. EMV cards have an
embedded chip that protects the cardholder's information
from identity thefts.

 After the hearing, Escudero said their inquiry was to inform
the public on what caused the glitches and to avoid confusion
and speculation.

 "We used it as a venue to placate fears dahil ang daming
balitang lumabas (because there was a
 Escudero added the system errors were not something
deliberate on the part of the banks.

 "Walang dahilan para i-exaggerate natin yung mga kaganapan
sa dalawang bangko na tawaging hacking o terrorist attack."
Escudero said.

 [Translation: There's no reason to exaggerate what happened
with the two banks, for it to be called hacking or terrorist attack.]

 Meanwhile, Security Bank issued an advisory on Wednesday
afternoon, saying it encountered a "delay in posting banking
transactions" in its system.

 "The delay in posting banking transactions does not and will not
impact the financial integrity of our customers' accounts. While
some services were affected, the delay did not prevent our
customers from accessing their funds," the advisory stated.