Standard Bank has confirmed its South African banking operations have been the victim of a sophisticated, co-ordinated fraud incident.
NDTV earlier reported that Japanese police are investigating a case of international credit card fraud in which about $13 million was illegally withdrawn with forged credit cards from 1 400 automated teller machines (ATMs) in convenience stores around the country.
In a SENS statement this morning, Standard Bank says the fraud involved the withdrawal of cash using a small number of fictitious cards at various ATMs in Japan.
The big four bank notes Standard Bank was the target of the fraud and there has been no financial loss for customers.
Standard Bank has taken swift action to contain the matter and the gross loss to the bank is estimated at R300 million, it says, adding this is prior to any potential recoveries that may serve to reduce the loss.
"The relevant authorities have been alerted. Investigations are at a sensitive stage and further information will be provided as appropriate," the bank says in a statement.
According to NDTV, police in Japan suspect a group of more than 100 people extracted the money from the ATMs, which were located in Tokyo and 16 prefectures, over a period of about two-and-a-half hours on 15 May.
Since the cards were forged based on data leaked about credit cards issued by a bank in SA, Japanese police believe an international criminal organisation is involved.
Each transaction involved the removal of 100 000 yen, or about $900, the maximum withdrawal limit set for ATMs, and there were more than 14 000 transactions in the case.
Police believe the suspects attempted to delay the revelation of the crime by withdrawing the money outside the nation where the cards were issued. They suspect the more than 100 perpetrators were in close contact with each other.
They intend to identify the suspects by analysing the images recorded by security cameras. They also plan to examine how the credit card data was leaked, in co-operation with the South African authorities via Interpol.
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