HSBC and Hang Seng Bank have pledged to install keypad covers for all their ATMs by the end of next month after a dozen customers lost money in a scam.
The vow came as Hong Kong Association of Banks chairman Benjamin Hung Pi-cheng yesterday called on banks to tighten security and monitoring measures at ATM terminals following the latest fraud case.
The case involved an HSBC ATM at East Ocean Centre which was suspected to have been installed with a pinhole camera and card reader to steal cardholders' information. CCTV footage showed two men acting suspiciously at the machine on three occasions between April 11 and 19.
Hang Seng Bank yesterday confirmed that two customers using the machine suffered a total loss of HK$20,000. The bank said it would compensate them.
Earlier, HSBC discovered that a total of HK$280,000 had disappeared from the accounts of 10 customers. About 100 cardholders of the two banks used the ATM when the suspicious devices were installed. Despite the incident, Hung said it was safe to use ATM cards in Hong Kong, and believed the latest scam was an individual case. After a spate of ATM scams in 2003, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority issued a circular to banks asking them to improve the machines' security features. Since then, banks have gradually installed closed-circuit TV cameras and keypad covers.
A spokesman for HSBC said the bank had 720 ATMs across the city. It did not say how many of them were without keypad covers, but said all ATM keypads would be covered in a month.
Hang Seng Bank chief executive Margaret Leung Ko May-yee said about 50 machines out of the 500 ATMs operated by the bank did not have keypad covers. These machines were located inside branches, and they would be installed with metal covers by the end of next month.