Online transfers to unregistered third parties are blocked
Hong Kong's biggest bank will no longer allow its customers to make online transfers to third-party accounts unless they register the third account with the bank in person.
HSBC introduced the security measure on Friday night, two days after it was revealed that at least a dozen of its customers had lost $660,000 in an e-mail scam. It was the first time Hong Kong residents have fallen victim to crime syndicates using an online sting to empty bank accounts.
HSBC spokeswoman Vinh Tran said the ban on unregistered third-party transfers took effect at 9pm on Friday. Previously, online customers were able to transfer up to $50,000 a day to third parties.
The bank has not changed its policy of allowing online transfers of up to $1 million daily to accounts previously registered with the bank.
Ms Tran said the new measure would prevent someone with a stolen PIN and customer identification number from transferring money out of the account.
One of the bank's 750,000 online customers, Mark Pinkston, said he was puzzled when unable to transfer money to a friend's account yesterday. He said he called a telephone number on the website and waited for 30 minutes before an operator told him such transfers could no longer be made.