HKMA reportedly urges probe into Standard Chartered card fraud

Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is reportedly urging Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong to look into unauthorised transactions, after the bank received complaints from its credit card holders that their card data were stolen for allegedly unauthorised transactions, according to The Standard.

Standard Chartered Bank credit card holders complained that their card data have been stolen after receiving several phone messages of unauthorised transactions. A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw angry users flooding the bank’s Facebook page with complaints regarding to allegedly unauthorised transactions in foreign currencies. A customer said her credit was used for purchase for 16 times while she was asleep. Meanwhile, another customer said she immediately sought help from the bank’s call centre but no one answered her call after waiting for 40 minutes.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Standard Chartered for a statement.

HKMA said it immediately followed up with the bank to make sure effective measures were in place to safeguard clients’ interests. It also requested the bank to enable better communication with clients and conduct a thorough investigation into the incident, according to the report.

Standard Chartered told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that they believed the card fraud was a result of random attempts at low-value credit card transactions and there is no indication of any personal data leakage from the bank. Only 1% of its credit cardholders were affected and it remains safe for customers to continue using their credit cards. The bank has swiftly implemented tighter monitoring measures, which have proved effective and the number of suspicious transactions has dropped significantly. Furthermore, Standard Chartered will proactively arrange refunds for any unauthorised transactions and eligible chargebacks to clients who were impacted from next Monday, which the refunds and chargebacks are expected to complete within one week.

A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw the bank has released a notice on its official website, announcing that cardholders are not liable for these unauthorised transactions. They are protected by charge back mechanism, and the bank will arrange refund once it confirms there is an unauthorised transaction and eligible charge back. Furthermore, customers are advised not to contact the bank's call centre or visit SC Mobile in a rush.

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