Zambia’s largest bank by assets, ZANACO has refuted reports that it suffered a major hack on its Xapit Mobile Money system last weekend.
But some ZANACO customers have insisted that they lost money after some suspicious transactions appeared in their accounts and have challenged the bank to show responsibility over the matter.
In a statement, ZANACO through its Head of Marketing and Communications Mutinta-Musokotwane Chikopela said ZANACO management would like to assure members of the public and customers that there has been no security breach on its systems.
Mrs. Chikopela said the Bank has invested and continues to invest heavily in the controls and systems that host customer Personally Identifiable Information (PII) as security for its customers is of the utmost importance and is at the centre of it’s core strategy.
“Regrettably, it would appear that some of our customers have yielded to incessant pursuits of cyber criminals and shared their personal banking credentials,” Mrs Chikopela admitted.
“Following industry wide cyber fraud, we have embarked on a Fraud Awareness Campaign in an effort to sensitizeour customers and the public on how to protect their information and themselves against fraud. The campaign has run on various radio stations and on all our SocialMedia Platforms,” she said.
“We continue to advise our customers that details such as pin and/or passwords should never be shared online or with anyone else and if they suspect an attempt for fraud, they must quickly change their pin and report any suspicious activity,” Mrs. Chikopela said.
“We strongly appeal to our customers and members of the public to heed that cyber-crime is an industry wide situation and also cuts across different industries. Cyber-crime prevention is a collective responsibility as cyber-crime is on the increase globally.”
She added, “It is therefore each person’s responsibility to safeguard themselves and exercise extreme security as we all work towards our national financial inclusion agenda.”
But some ZANACO customers have insisted that there was an attack on its system which led them to lose their savings.
The clients who were affected have since called on the bank to step up its security measures.
Some ZANACO clients interviewed are disappointed that a big bank like ZANACO could suffer such an attack on its systems.
Some who were affected and lost their money in the process say they have been inconvenienced and are demanding that they be compensated their money.
Samwali Nancy Malitoli wrote on Facebook that she lost her salary due the system hack.
“My November 2018 salary together with my ka savings from my savings account disappeared from my ZANACO accounts and it did show that the money went to a FNB account under the name Chrispin Kila and it was a swift transfer authorized on a sunday at 12 Hours. Well, i reported to the bank and up to now nothing has been done and what is shocking is that even the book balance of K200 was wiped out and now they are say they cannot do anything because that transfer was pin generated…..What system is this!!!!total rubbish!.”
zanaco quit passing the pack around. the pack stops with you.
obviously something happened to YOUR system. don’t try and blame your customers, this’ on you.
those of you affected, find a way to get together and file a class lawsuit against the bank. that’s the only way to seek redress. Zambians seem to let a lot of things slide, it’s a very bad culture as it makes those on the other end perpetually do whatever they want.
if it were me, even if I only had k100 in my account and it’s gone, it’d be breathing fire!
even if K10 is lot of money especially if its a 5000 customers
How can ZANACO know if they don’t know about cyber theft?
ZANACO are checking if any windows or doors were tempered with. They are asking security officers if they saw any Nigerians outside the banks.
Those that continue to bank with Zanaco good luck to you. They are useless and basically don’t care about your losses.
BANK OF ZAMBIA WHERE ARE YOU?
ZANACO IS ALLOWING A SYSTEM WHEREBY THIEVES STEAL FROM ACCOUNTS RIGHT UNDER THEIR NOSE THROUGH A SYSTEM CALLED CASH SEND.
ZANACO KNOW ABOUT IT AND HAVE DONE NOTHING.
SURELY THE VICTIMS SHOULD BE RE-IMBURSED BY ZANACO.
REGULATOR BANK OF ZAMBIA WHERE ARE YOU?
Like I said they have probably replaced monies in client’s accounts to cover up…customers you need to be organised as the Regulators in Zambia are useless and impotent this why ZANACO can get away with such lies.
These ZANACO guys aren’t serious, they have done nothing apart from telling customers to go to police as if they bank with the police. Useless bank indeed
People should go to the newspapers and cry go on social media that’s what scares the banks bad press…going to the police is waste of time as the police have to contact the bank who have already tried to investigate but fraudsters are long gone!!
Very soon someone will start blaming PF give over this issue. Yes the bank is partly to blame but you as customers need to be vigilant. Zambian banks are not doing enough to sensitize customers on bank fraud like this especially with ATM cards. In this instance, most people defrauded gave out there information to the crooks. I doubt there is a leg to stand on in court.
If the banks shaky security was not breached they would never have been contacted by the fraudster…this is not mere phishing by fraudsters were they send a spyware that finds out where you bank, they had all the specific details.
But where did the fraudsters initially get the phone numbers for the right ZANACO customers? Next, the customer why should you give your PIN to somebody on the phone who claims to be a bank official? There are more questions than answers to both the bank band the customers. Eg surely how do you give personal details on thr phone to somebody who claims that you have won a prize for a competition which you have never entered?????? Funny
I went to the Police and submitted my report but it was misplaced. …3 weeks later I was told that I get another report. ..customer care!?
Just don’t bank with Zanaco. They are useless
Did Zanaco even investigate this incident. I hope their site is secure. You can’t be that sure that your system is secure. Don’t they know there attacks like cross site request forgery where criminals can force people to transfer money to their accounts
Its seems to me that Zanaco’s systems are not secure. You need to have two factor authentication implemented for all online transfers to other Banks. You know where the money went make a follow up and check if that transaction was genuine. Otherwise your message has come too late and you have lost reputation and clients too. Samwali Nancy Malitoli is a very unsatisfied client of yours and contact her asap before you lose more clients. Get Nancy’s money back please
The problem is not with zanaco, it’s with ignorant people. How can you give authorisation to your bank account to people(attackers) through a message or voice calling. Any bank in its right mind can not ask a customer to send a PIN through messaging, email, or voice calling.You don’t share PINs they are secret.
BANK OF ZAMBIA WHERE ARE YOU?
ZANACO IS ALLOWING A SYSTEM WHEREBY THIEVES STEAL FROM ACCOUNTS RIGHT UNDER THEIR NOSE THROUGH A SYSTEM CALLED CASH SEND.
ZANACO KNOW ABOUT IT AND HAVE DONE NOTHING.
SURELY THE VICTIMS SHOULD BE RE-IMBURSED BY ZANACO.
BANK OF ZAMBIA WHERE ARE YOU?
ZANACO how can you deny this. Do you need a Software developer to come and tell you that yo system was hacked. Ok was money from customers trousers pockets/handbags or in ZANACO A/c?. This is not the first time zanaco is being talked about. Even the very workers at ZANACO they are thieves too. In fact they are the ones conniving with foreigners stealing.
Look, this is a simple case of damage control/reputation management so that there isn’t a run on the bank. I’ve already opened an account with another bank and redirected my income/deposits there. The cosmetic branch overhaul, introduction of a knock-off product from FNB (Zee-wallet … what the heck?), cloning of a customers’ ATM card and now this hack simply means the bank isn’t suited to my needs for security conscious, customer-centric financial provider.