Kiwibank cancels eftpos, debit cards in fraud investigation

Kiwibank cancels eftpos, debit cards in fraud investigation

By Suze Metherell

Feb. 24 (BusinessDesk) - Kiwibank, the government-owned lender and subsidiary of New Zealand Post, has taken urgent action and frozen some customer accounts after detecting card fraud.

The Wellington-based bank was contacting a "small number" of customers who have been affected by card fraud this afternoon, Kiwibank spokesperson Bruce Thompson told BusinessDesk. The investigation was ongoing, and was a suspected eftpos scamming fraud, not a cyber attack or hacking.

"We have taken immediate action, we have frozen their accounts, contacted them about replaced their cards, reactivated their accounts and made sure they haven't lost any money," Thompson said. "This type of fraud can occur in a number of different ways, it can be a compromised eftpos machine, or an ATM or a card access where somebody has gone into an individual account.

"We're not releasing any details because of the sensitivity of the investigation, it's a fairly early stage in the investigation," he said.

This week the state owned bank said it expects to pay its first annual dividend after 13 years of operation, reflecting its increased size, record profits and its ability to fund its own activities. Kiwibank increased profit 37 percent to a record $71 million in the six months ended Dec. 31, it said in a statement. The banking unit accounted for the bulk of NZ Post's $100 million profit in the period.

(BusinessDesk)

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