By NICO SCAVELLA
Tribune Staff Reporter
nscavella@tribunemedia.net
A LOCAL businessman has claimed that an alleged cyber attack wiped out $30,000 from one of his commercial corporate accounts and wants other customers to be aware of possible fraudulent activity.
Peter Bates, general manager of the Sign Man, told The Tribune that “one or more” online banking money transfers had allegedly been fraudulently removed from one of his commercial corporate accounts at CIBCFirst Caribbean’s Shirley Street Branch.
He said the incident, which occurred about two weeks ago, has since been reported to First Caribbean officials, who he said have been “elusive” in answering his questions “about where this money is and what the investigation is.”
Mr Bates said the matter has been brought to the attention of the Royal Bahamas Police Force. However, he criticised the bank for failing to make a public statement on the matter.
“I’m a customer of the bank, I’ve lost $30,000 due to criminal activity within their banking system – nothing I’ve done,” he said. “Bottom line is, I’m out of pocket $30,000.
“They need to pay their customers the courtesy of answering their phone calls and emails regardless how numerous they are. I’m a customer they charge fees to and I’m out of pocket $30,000 which to me is a huge amount of money.”
According to Mr Bates, First Caribbean was “immediately” notified once he realised his money was missing.
He said bank officials received a “reconciled statement” of his account as of March 31, and said officials received a computer printout of “every legitimate transaction in and out of that account since January 1.”
“They will not tell me the status of their internal investigation,” he told The Tribune recently. “The head guy refuses to answer my emails and has not returned the phone call I left for him. I emailed the managing director and she has not replied to that email.”
He said he demanded that the Royal Bahamas Police Force become involved in the investigation.
“My feeling is that number one, the bank should immediately make good on the money they’re supposed to be taking care of,” he said.
As a result of requests from The Tribune, First Caribbean’s Managing Director Marie Rodland-Allen released a statement on the claims.
She said the bank is aware of the complaint but “we are unable to provide any details as it remains under active police investigation”.
The statement added: “We remain in active dialogue with the customer and will continue to do so. The bank will also continue to work with the relevant authorities to try to bring this matter to a satisfactory resolution.”
Ms Rodland-Allen said the safety of the bank’s customers and the integrity of the services provided “are paramount.”
She said the bank advises customers to bring any fraud or attempted fraud to its attention immediately at fraud@cibcfcib.com.
“The Clearing Banks’ Association will shortly be issuing another advisory in the newspapers to all its customers on how to thwart any phishing attempts,” her statement added.
Phishing is an online scam where criminals attempt to gain passwords, credit card details or sensitive bank information through fraudulent emails.
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