‘Online banking fraud’ uncovered in northern China
Customers allege more than 20 million yuan taken from accounts in Shijiazhuang without their permission, according to news report
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 19 May, 2015, 12:04pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 20 May, 2015, 1:59am
Andrea Chen
[email protected]
The alleged fraud was reported at Industrial and Commercial Bank branches in Hebei province. Photo: AFP
A bank has launched an investigation after a group of customers in northern China alleged that more than 20 million yuan (HK$25 million) was taken out of their accounts without their permission, according to a media report.
Dozens of clients said the cash had been wired or withdrawn from their accounts from at least two branches of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Shijiazhuang, the China News Service reported.
Customers said they were asked to open online banking accounts at the branches in Hebei province and to apply for a security device that would allow them to make large transactions online.
One client said she deposited 10.8 million yuan after a bank teller promised her an annual interest rate of 10 per cent on the account.
“I told the manager that I have never used online banking, but was asked to apply anyway,” she was quoted as saying.
“I was told it would make it easier to wire interest to my account.”
She discovered this month that there was only 124 yuan left in the account, even though she had never used the online banking service, the report said.
She later found that the serial number of the internet security device she was given for the account was not the same as the one listed on the banking agreement.
Another client who lost 3 million yuan after he was promised an annual interest rate of 8 per cent said the bank teller sealed the paperwork and security device in an envelope and asked him not to open it until one year later.
The transaction history later showed that deposits were wired to other accounts online.
The bank said the customer’s security device was a fake, but admitted that a teller who opened some of the accounts for the rest of the clients was a full-time employee, according to the report.
Police have been alerted about the alleged fraud, the China News Service said.
