TAIF: The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has opened intensive investigations into complaints by citizens who claimed that they lost money when their bank accounts were violated during their absence on holidays abroad, the Dammam-based Al-Sharq newspaper reported yesterday.
The banks affirmed that they were using the latest methods of protection to prevent the leakage of data concerning the accounts of their clients. “The clients themselves must have revealed their pin code numbers to others,” a bank spokesman said. SAMA’s banking committee started looking at the complaints with a view to reaching a final decision on them.
A number of citizens said they were surprised to find out that their salaries for the past few months were confiscated without their knowledge while they were out on summer vacation. They said they turned to SAMA after the banks failed to respond to their complaints.
“I lost about SR 10,000 from my account when I came back from my vacation in a neighboring country. When the pay day was due, I did not find any money in my account,” Nasser Al-Qarni said. “The same story was repeated in the second month,” he added.
Al-Qarni said SAMA informed him that his complaint would be forwarded to the Banking Inspection Department in Riyadh for necessary followup.
Khaled Al-Iraishi, another alleged victim, said he had to go to SAMA when he found out that the bank was not taking his complaint seriously.
“I am surprised how a sum of SR 13,000 was withdrawn from my account without my knowledge. I did not use my account during my stay abroad,” he said. Media and awareness committee of the Saudi banks Talaat Hafiz said the Saudi banks were using the highest security standards in the world and that no penetration attempt was recorded. He asked the clients to keep the pin code numbers of their accounts secret and not reveal them to anyone.
Hafiz believed that the victims of the conning must have disclosed their bank’s data to other people who might be their friends or relatives.
He advised the clients to keep the pin code numbers secret and to change them when they come back from their vacation outside.
SAMA probes bank account ‘swindling’
