Clients of the Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI) have temporarily suffered glitches in transacting through the bank’s automated teller machines (ATMs), with some accounts dubiously contained millions of pesos.
BPI, through an advisory, eagerly cleared out to its clients that its EMV Debit Mastercards were affected by the system maintenance and will temporarily not be accessible for transactions.
In an interview by GMA News, BPI client named Mark, not his true name, shared his frustration over being unable to withdraw his money in an ATM in Makati although he had Php27,000 in his account.
He tried to check his balance and to his surprise, his account’s balance suddenly rose to over seven million pesos.
A Facebook user, who experienced a similar scenario, jokingly said that she does not need to try her luck in Lotto after seeing her bank account containing over five million pesos despite knowing she should only have ten thousand pesos in her account.
BPI explained that due to engineering maintenance, screen and printing errors occurred. The bank then assured that all of their client’s balances remain intact.
Meanwhile, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) warned public to avoid withdrawing money they do not own, as doing so can land them to jail.
“Hindi nila pwedeng i-withdraw ‘yon ‘pagka hindi nila talaga pera ‘yon kasi estafa ‘yon. Unlawfully enriching yourself ‘di ba dun sa benefits na ‘yan…Magfo-fall ‘yan sa Cyber Crime Prevention Act. Ang minimum penalty n’yan is six year and one day to 12 years,” said Atty. Vic Lorenzo, Cybercrime Division Chief.
