BVI News

Fraudulent activity reported on Republic Bank/Scotia accounts

Republic Bank has taken over Scotiabank BVI. Captured above is their sole local branch in Road Town.

A number of residents with Scotiabank/Republic Bank debit cards recently took to social media to report several incidents of unauthorised purchases made on their accounts.

In a series of publications on a popular local community Facebook page, the author of the post — a female resident — urged persons to immediately check their bank accounts to see if any suspicious activity was noticed.

She said: “If you have a Scotiabank/Republic Bank debit card, check to see if there was a purchase to “Eyeyah”. Lucky for me, I received an alert and my card was blocked and I replaced my card this morning at the bank.”

“I met someone else there who had three charges on her card and I further found out that there have been a number of persons last week that had fraudulent activities on their card,” she further wrote.

Noticed from Europe

Another resident who described herself as a client of the bank also reported that her card was compromised and she had to make a few calls to the bank.

She said she is not currently on the territory.

“The bank has shared with me that it was quite widespread. Obviously, they are now looking into it … I made the call to the bank and alerted them to the fraudulent use of my card.”

Large payments made

A male resident who identified as Andrew said a considerable sum of money was deducted from his account but quick action prevented him from losing out on his money.

“I had $1,500 taken out. Lucky the email alerts meant I could stop them in time and change the card,” he stated.

Another user identified as Dean said he got a call out of Santo Domingo about the fraudulent activity on his account and was notified that his bank card would be blocked.

Other persons reported that purchases were made from their cards at Walmart last week and on online Asian marketplace, AliExpress.com.

Efforts to contact the Managing Director of Republic Bank, Marion Blyden were unsuccessful up to the time this article was published.

 

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19 Comments

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  1. Wow says:

    Not a good look for a new bank. We need better options here.

    Like 8
    Dislike 3
  2. Omg says:

    This is what you get when you bank in the third world. You’re all lucky someone answered the phone. Usually too busy eating doughnuts to help with real issues.

    Like 14
    Dislike 7
  3. A customer says:

    Something aint right with this bank. How are these things happening that hackers can access residents account so easily. The bank need to upgrade their banking IT security. This should not be at all.

  4. Hmm says:

    Bloggers then say that this bank is not good. They did warn the public about this exact same thing. I was with scotia but did not agree with some of republics rules. Interns of transferring money from master card to debit . So I switched. This bank is S**t. Literally. You can tell it is a Caribbean run bank. So un-organize. Terrible customer service. Thank the lord I switched banks!

  5. Anonymous says:

    Same with me that blocked my card also

  6. Me too says:

    A purchase was made to the same eyeah singapore. But what i notice is most people who are are compromised are the ones using their debit cards to pay for their internet service. So they need to look into the customers safety of those using internet, are the providers the ones leaking information?

  7. Peek a Boo says:

    It’s them same people who works at the Bank be sharing customers private info and make them vulnerable to the THEFT.

    Like 8
    Dislike 3
    • Mailand says:

      I doubt that. You maybe giving them too much credit. It is more like weak security…there IT systems are not what we call FISMA compliant on this side. Not sure what you call it on your side. Essentially what it means is that the bank’s IT security is not meeting industry standards. Could also be the ISP not being secure either. IT systems security is only as strong as your internet service providers security platform.

  8. So sad says:

    I hope they don’t start to hack into one’s account for Morgage payments !!! If they do what a ting !! This means you have to check into your Morgage monthly when your payments comes out automatically from your account Not good

  9. mainland says:

    It’s happening to us here in the US also, for some of our family members it started around August. They will take control of the email address you use with the bank and change the password. They are taking cash off the credit cards. In this case it seems to be the some banks APPs combine with open wifi on your phone that you use to access the bank’s app to log into your account. Open wifi on your phone is not secure and neither is the bank’s App, if you are having problems. Start by changing your email password; get another email account if you can. Work with the bank to change the account numbers on all of your accounts to secure all your financial accounts. If you are a US citizen (althought you live in the BVI do these things) contact the 3 credit credit bureaus and lock your social security number down and get credit monitoring service. The 3 credit reporting agencies are equifax, experion and transunion. You can also contact SSA and the block usage of your social security#. https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10220.pdf

  10. Anonymous says:

    If you don’t like the bank, move

  11. Advice says:

    If you don’t like the bank, please leave. No need for the insults

  12. Anonymous says:

    Scotiabank do not answer their phone calls..I have been trying to get through to them for months,and cant …plus their workers do not speak the truth..

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