G.A. Viray
A home-based online manager from Davao lost P 20,000 from her Unionbank account through an unauthorized ATM withdrawal in Ortigas last December 2014. Eight months after she lost her money, Unionbank sent her a letter stating that her account was phished and that the money she lost cannot be returned.
On December 22, 2014, Bernadith Ong, a home-based online project manager, posted a status stating that she lost money from her Unionbank account. She said that her salary was credited to her local Unionbank account on December 18, 2014. However, an hour after she checked her account again online, she was surprised to find out that there were two unauthorized withdrawals of P 10,000 each. She then called up Unionbank’s customer service hotline and asked the representative how it was possible that a withdrawal was made in Ortigas when her ATM card was with her all the time. She was then informed that her account may have been cloned and that it would take 15 to 85 days for an investigation to be made and only would she be informed if the bank will reimburse her money.
On April 27, 2015, almost four months after the unfortunate incident, Ong posted an update about her missing money from her Unionbank account. She said she was informed that the anti-fraud unit’s investigation ended during the last week of March 2015 and that Unionbank cannot give her a copy of the result of their investigation as part of company protocol. She was then endorsed to the Unionbank branch in Davao to follow up on the charge back process.
Unfortunately, almost eight months after making follow-ups through calls to the bank and emails, Unionbank sent Ong a letter stating that she will not be able to get her money back because her account was phished. She posted another status venting out her frustration on Facebook posting a question to Unionbank to explain what really happened to her account. She posted a screenshot of an email from Unionbank confirming the ATM withdrawal from BPI Ortigas which was sent to her on January 14, 2015 and the letter which Unionbank sent stating that since her account was phished, they will not be able to reimburse her lost money.
Ong said in her post,
“UBP’s 25 June letter stated that my account was phished, but the money was stolen or taken through unrecognized withdrawal and UBP Customer Service confirmed that the unrecognized withdrawals were made at BPI Ortigas San Miguel 1 G/F OAC Bldg. San Miguel Ave. Ortigas Center, Pasig. (please see attached screenshot from their email) Adding the fact that I was here in Davao and I have my ATM card with me. Which is obviously another ATM was created.. right?
“Also I wish to know what is this Unionbank’s basis of claiming that my account was phished, where in fact it was withdrawn via ATM terminal. I am from Mindanao and the withdrawal was in Luzon. And if it is true that my account was phished, it still means that their online banking was hacked, which is their system and I am not sure how are we protected if our money will be stolen this way. Please enlighten me.
“PAKI-EXPLAIN ng maayos …. Mr. Joel B. Dorado of UnionBank of the Philippines”
As of this writing, Unionbank has not released any statement regarding Ong’s post.
On a final note, Ong’s post is a reminder to the public to be vigilant about monitoring bank accounts.
