(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat -
This may sound familiar to at least some. You wake up in the morning and check your messages. And you are shocked to see that money has been debited from your account from a country you have never been to.
Malcolm D'Souza, a private sector employee, elaborating on his experience recently, said, 'I recently received a series of messages from the bank early in the morning which showed small amounts of money withdrawn from my account.
'I immediately contacted the call centre to find out more and block the card. The call centre executive told me that RO72 had been debited as part of a series of transactions during the wee hours of morning. I told them that I had not made any such transactions. The customer care official then told me that the money has not been released but blocked.'
D'Souza is still waiting to hear from the bank and hoping to get his money back. 'After blocking my card through the call centre, I went to the bank and got a new debit card.'
He added, 'The email alerts for these fraud transactions show the place as Luxembourg and the US. The banks too are doing their job to safeguard customers money.
'I got an email from my bank's fraud monitoring team which said they saw some fraud transactions in my account and hence have blocked the card temporarily.'
Being alert and quick action are the key to combating such frauds, said Muscat resident, Binaki Hazare.
He was fortunate that his bank helped thwart a fraudulent credit card transaction, warning him in time.
'I got a call from my bank enquiring whether I had made a transaction worth over RO400 in Paris. I was in Muscat and hadn't travelled to France, so it was out of question. The bank told me that a transaction attempt was made in Paris. To protect my card I was told to block it immediately, which I did.'
The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) has also released an advisory urging people to conduct transactions only on safe platforms and not to share account details online unless sure of the credentials.
Banking frauds are widespread worldwide and many incidents are being reported in Oman too.
An official from one of the local banks told Muscat Daily that a few cases have been reported. 'People should report immediately once they see any transaction not initiated by them. 'If the bank detects fraud, some amounts are blocked and they are returned after some time once the complaint is filed.
If it [the amount] is deducted, then the complaints are sent to our partners internationally to check on the fraud,' the official said.
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