BANKS CHECKING PAYMENT SYSTEMS TO PREVENT THEFT

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, March 21 (Antara) - Indonesian banks, particularly large state-owned lenders Bank BNI and Bank Mandiri, are checking their payment systems, following incidents of siphoning off of customers' funds at state-owned Bank Rakyat's (BRI's) Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs).          Jakarta Regional Police investigators have revealed a network responsible for an ATM skimming scam, involving Romanians, Hungarians, and an Indonesian, hacking into 64 banks, including foreign banks.          "Foreign banks have also become the target," Adjunct Commissioner Rovan Richard Mahenu of the General Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Jakarta Police stated in Jakarta on Friday (March 16).          The recent case is the theft of state-owned BRI customers' data by the syndicate, where the suspects withdrew money from ATMs in some regions.          In order to avoid further incidents, banks are checking their payment devices. Bank Mandiri, for example, claimed to be checking its ATMs. Bank Mandiri Corporate Secretary Rohan Hafas remarked that his bank has to assure the security of its payment system.