Thousands of bank account holders are believed to have been the victims of a massive ATM fraud that has swept across Abu Dhabi

Banks across the United Arab Emirates are fighting to restore confidence in the banking system after hackers used counterfeit cards to withdraw funds from cash machines." Banks involved include Citibank, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Emirates NBD. At least seven major banks have been affected and tens of thousands of customers were forced to change PIN codes. Some saw their cards swallowed by cash machines or were informed their cards no longer worked.
There is still no official word on who the fraudsters are or how they were able to breach security in the first place, though early signs of trouble came on August 26, when the US embassy in Abu Dhabi reported “numerous” cases of US citizens in the UAE who had been victims of credit and debit card fraud.As further cases came to light, UAE banks including HSBC, Citibank, Dubai Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi issued statements to announce extra customer protection, such as a block on card usage overseas, with HSBC citing an “attack on our local accounts from counterfeit ATM card usage abroad”.
But the new measures are little comfort to those already affected. One expat, an HSBC customer, had the daily maximum amount of dhs8,000 withdrawn from his account in a matter of minutes over the weekend. He received a flurry of text messages, informing him that dhs800 had been withdrawn from his account - ten times.“The maximum amount is crazy,” the customer said. “There were ten cash transactions in the space of a few minutes. How can security not pick up on that? It’s a shambles. Banks are trusted to look after your money, not to lose it.”A source at HSBC told 7DAYS the number of customers affected at its branches is around 1,000.Banks warned customers of potential fraud by sending text messages recommending that they change their PIN codes.Saif Al Shehhi, senior general manager of NBAD’s domestic banking division, said his bank “utilises sophisticated fraud monitoring techniques” and was able to quickly detect the attacks and take urgent action to limit the problem. “This includes the use of SMS alerts where customers are notified of any activities on their accounts, which has also assisted us in containing the problem,” he said.One UK-based financial expert said the criminals appeared to have attacked multiple banks simultaneously, indicating they were targeting the industry as a whole rather than one institution.
While the banks, along with card operators MasterCard and Visa, continue to investigate the security breach, a senior official at Dubai Police has asked fraud victims to immediately lodge complaints with them.