GCASH has assured its users that its app remains safe to use after customers suffered unauthorized deductions from their personal accounts last week.
The National Privacy Commission (NPC) is currently investigating the problem which surfaced last Tuesday (May 9). The question that needs to be addressed is whether accounts suffered losses due to phishing or hacking.
Phishing is where customers have inadvertently allowed unauthorized people to access their accounts. Hacking occurs when unauthorized withdrawals from a GCash account happen without any blame being attached to the account holder.
At the time of writing, the NPC is still investigating the matter and, hopefully, will be able to determine whether phishing or hacking has taken place. GCash maintains that the incident involved phishing not hacking.
In December 2021, over 700 BDO customers appeared to suffer a hacking attack since it was reported that BDO made refunds. I suffered a hacking attack in August 2007 from my BDO account.
A long time ago, but I have never lost the sense of unease I felt when money had been stolen. Again, BDO made a refund but I have permanently lost faith in the banking sector that my money is completely safe.
I regularly send my pension which is held by a European branch of Standard Chartered Bank to my account with Security Bank in Bacolod City. In March 2023, Standard Chartered sent the usual payment order but Security Bank did not receive the funds which should have accompanied the payment order. My money had disappeared.
Yikes!
My enquiries found that Standard Chartered did not know where my money had gone.
As far as I am concerned, this constitutes an existential threat to any bank in this situation.
After a delay of over a month, Security Bank received a message from Bank of New York Mellon (who, they?) saying that the funds had reached it. How? This bank sent the money to Security Bank which credited it to my account. A great relief to me because i thought i had lost the money forever.
No phishing. No hacking. But, nevertheless, an unacceptable level of defective service from Standard Chartered which caused the funds to be misdirected.
I believe that the banking sector is suffering from a significant deterioration in performance.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) needs powerful audit authority to ensure that when faulty transactions occur, the financial institution involved, including, where necessary, GCash, is subject to publicly – administered sanctions./PN
