Fraudsters used compromised credentials of ATM vendor engineer, says South Indian Bank

CHENNAI: A day after fraudsters walked away with more Rs.13 lakh by fraudulently accessing an South Indian Bank ATM in Padppai near Chennai, the bank on Friday said that its analysis showed the fraudsters accessed the ATM by using compromised credentials of ATM Vendor Engineer and changed the ATM cash dispensing configuration.

Subsequently, they used different debit cards of other banks to withdraw money resulting in extra money being dispensed.

"On April 8 2024, one of our branches identified certain physical cash shortage in their ATM of a specific make. Upon internal investigation, it was revealed that there were unauthorized access to the ATM hood door, between night hours of April 6" and morning hours of April 7" by a group consisting of 2-3 persons, as captured by CCTV footage. During our further analysis, we found that one more ATM was also attempted during the morning hours of April 7th for the fraudulent activity with a lesser amount, employing the same modus operandi" a statement from the South Indian Bank said.

Upon identification of the incident we had put in place necessary measures and controls in all our ATMs, to prevent such fraudulent attempts, by making sure that even with unauthorized access of credentials, the ATM configurations cannot be changed.

Further, soon after the incident had come to light, we have lodged a Criminal complaint and the investigation is presently underway.

We have also intimated the incident to the ATM manufacturer so that other banks can also be informed about this modus operandi.

It is also confirmed from our internal analysis/investigation, that the role of the Bank Staff in the incident could not be established, but identified as an external intervention by some unknown miscreants, the bank claimed.