Ni Komang Erviani and Dicky Christanto, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar/Jakarta | Thu, 01/21/2010 10:01 AM
Police are investigating the savings’ loss from personal accounts at Bank Central Asia (BCA), as the case has caused panic among bank customers across the country.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said Wednesday that his office had
sent a team to Denpasar, Bali, to provide necessary assistance to the local police to investigate the sudden losses.
“So far, 16 people have reported they have lost savings. We need to find who is responsible,” he said in Jakarta.
Separately, BI spokesman Divi Johansyah called for the public to remain calm, as banks have been required to tighten security to protect their customers’ savings.
Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Sutisna said his officers were probing the case aggressively.
“I have instructed our cyber crime unit to investigate the possible involvement of hackers,” he said, adding that investigators had not found evidence that there was internal involvement.
BCA Denpasar branch operational head Paulus Mudjiangtoro expressed the bank’s commitment to compensate its customers for lost funds.
“We are ready to reimburse the money missing from our customers’ accounts. As long as the reports
of losses are correct, we will provide 100 percent compensation,” he said.
So far, the bank has provided reimbursements to 15 customers of the Denpasar branch area,
covering Denpasar, Gianyar and Ubud.
However, Mudjiangtoro refused to detail how much the bank had disbursed for those accounts.
“This is the first time we have experienced a case of this kind. We are shocked,” he added.
The police estimated that the total savings lost amounted to more than Rp 420 million (US$45,000).
Yet, they warned that this was not a solid figure because the police believed that a large number of customers had not filed a police report.
Among the customers who filed a report was Grace Simon, a popular singer in Indonesia in the 1980s. Simon reported that Rp 15 million was missing from her account.
Another victim, Robert Allan Nicksic, said that he had learned about the disappearance when attempting a transaction at BCA’s ATM in Kuta.
“I checked my account and found Rp 25 million was missing,” he said.
Nicksic is one of two US citizens who have filed a police report.
Following the disappearance, several people reported that they had received emails and messages advising them to change their ATM PIN.
“I received notification stating that a syndicate of hackers had implanted devices in BCA ATMs, stealing customer security data and using it to illegally withdraw customer funds,” Pasek Winastra said.
