Banco Nacional Limits
Daily Internet Transfers
The state bank, Banco
Nacional, announced
yesterday that, as a
preventive measure
against internet fraud
during the holiday
season, it will limit
electronic transfers to
a maximum of ¢500.000
colones (us$1.000) per
day.
The move is in response
to the escalating frauds
against bank customers
who have lost millions
of colones to scamsters.
Customers of all the
state banks - Banco
Nacional, Banco de Costa
Rica, Popular and
Bancredito - have all
been victims of fraud
artists, who using the
internet, have been able
to syphon money from
accounts. The banks say
that they are not
responsible for the
losses, in many cases
the fault lies with the
customers who are not
careful with the
security of their access
codes.
Customers who have been
victimized say
different, claiming the
banks security, or lack
thereof, of its
electronic banking the
reason and have filed
charges with the
judicial authorities
with the hopes of
recovering their losses.
So far the Banco
Nacional is the only
bank to limit its daily
electronic transactions.
The other state banks
are expected to follow.
No reports of fraud have
come from customers of
private banks.
In a press statement
yesterday, Banco
Nacional officials say
that the limit of
transfer from one
account to another is
¢500.000 colones or the
highest transfer amount
during the last month as
long as it is below the
¢500.000.
The Banco Nacional says
that it will allow
higher transfers only at
the written request of
the customer.
Customers will also have
to change their password
every 30 days, as it is
at the Banco de Costa
Rica, which offers its
customers a choice of 15
or 30 password change,
instead of the current
practice of every
six months.
Opening a new account at
the Banco Nacional has
also become more
difficult as the then
bank intends to weed out
fraudsters who open an
account to deposit funds
defrauded from other
customer accounts and
then make a withdrawl.
The additional paperwork
includes a statement
from an employer or an
accountant.
Many believe that the
fraud has not been
perpetrated by outsiders
by a method known as "phishing",
but rather by bank
insiders. Phishing is a
method were a person's
bank account
information, user name,
password, etc. if
obtained from a fake
email or website. Some
believe that the
Phishing excuse is being
used to cover up inside
theft at the state
banks.
On its website, the
Banco de Costa Rica
warns customers of
the "ofician virual" -
virtual office - when
changing their password,
not to do so from a
public computer like at
an internet café. |
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