G.A. Viray
Online banking has been one of the conveniences technology has brought us. However, recently, this convenience has also caused trouble for some savings account users. Take for example Tin Ferrera who just wanted to pay bills online, but was unfortunately almost hacked.
Tin posted a Facebook status about the almost unfortunate incident that happened on October 10, 2015. According to her, she was just going to pay some bills online. She noticed that the website was asking for her debit card number and PIN. However, since she read the statement “An OTP will be sent to your phone,” she just continued with her transaction. After a long time waiting for her transaction to be processed, she refreshed the site and it stated that it was undergoing “site maintenance.” She immediately called up BDO’s hotline number and was told that BDO never asks for the card number and PIN during log on. Luckily no unusual transaction was made on her account yet. While she might be lucky that her account was still intact, she said it was a hassle to go through the process of changing her card and making transactions over the counter.
Here is Tin’s Facebook post:
“Sharing this for those using the BDO Online Banking log-in page. Be careful when you log-in. My card was hacked. Almost.
“I went to the usual log-in page in my browser to pay some bills. The usual username and password was asked, below it was a box asking for my debit card no and the pin. I entered without thinking cause the screen and url is the bdo log-in page. Then it says, an OTP will be sent to my phone (which is how it is with all BDO transaction).
Everything looked normal (except that it is the first time they asked for those numbers). When it was taking some time to get the OTP, I refreshed the site and then a “site maintenance” screen appeared. It looked normal still. Though I felt uneasy and had the urge to call the hotline. I did! Lo and behold “we never and will never ask for those details at log-on,” the customer service rep said. Since it was only a few minutes after log-on, no unusual transaction yet was done. Hassle Lang. have to go thru the process of card change and can’t access my account unless it’s over the counter. Just sharing this so everyone will be careful.”
On a final note, Tin is reminding the public to be vigilant when making online transactions.
As of this writing, The Dailypedia has not yet received any statement from BDO regarding Tin Ferrera’s case.
