Monday 23 May 2016

Standard Bank confirms Japan heist

Standard Bank told journalists, on Monday, that it had lost in the region of R300-million during a fraudulent exercise conducted at its Tokyo facilities earlier this month.

Media reports suggest the act was pulled off by what appears to have been a well organised syndicate, which had used credit cards to extract the money from ATM’s throughout Tokyo, during a period of just under three hours.

“The South African banking operations of Standard Bank Group have been the victim of a sophisticated, co-ordinated fraud incident,” read a statement released by Standard Bank.

The bank said there would be no loss to customers though, adding that investigations were still at a sensitive stage.

“The target of the fraud has been Standard Bank and there has been no financial loss for customers,” continued the statement.

“Standard Bank has taken swift action to contain the matter and the gross loss to the bank is estimated at R300-million. This is prior to any potential recoveries that may serve to reduce the loss.”