RBC Royal Bank confirmed an “incident of fraud”, external to the bank compromised some of its customers’ accounts but said the event was “limited”.
And in a statement issued on Thursday, the bank denied the breach was a cyber attack.
“At this point, we are not experiencing a cyber incident,” the Canadian-owned commercial bank stated.
The bank said: “We recently identified an incident of fraud, external to RBC that has impacted a limited number of our clients in Barbados. We are working with our clients directly to provide them with more information. As always, we encourage clients to contact us right away if they notice any unusual or suspicious transactions.”
The bank did not give any further details on the nature and scope of the breach.
RBC gave an assurance to its customers that safeguarding the security of its systems and clients’ information was a top priority.
The statement read: “We design our products and services with privacy and security at the foundation. We have a team of dedicated fraud experts working to prevent, detect and investigate fraud. Through these efforts, we take steps to identify and communicate directly to impacted clients.”
Scotiabank on Wednesday dismissed claims that it had experienced a data breach, following a social media alarm by a cybersecurity expert.
The alleged data breach made it to the floor of the Senate as Opposition Senator Tricia Watson said she, too, had been affected.
Scotiabank responded to queries from Barbados TODAY regarding a post by cybersecurity expert Neil Harper who questioned whether it or RBC Royal Bank had been hacked.
Harper, a chief security information officer, made this claim via social media: “I have been contacted more than 30 times by individuals who have seemingly been directly or indirectly affected by unauthorised withdrawals or unknown charges to bank accounts at Scotiabank (Barbados) or RBC Royal Bank (Barbados).
“Individuals claim to have experienced their bank accounts being emptied of amounts ranging from USD$500 [$1 000] through USD $5 000 [$10 000] and even higher in some cases.”
But Scotiabank categorically rejected any suggestion of a data breach.
“Scotiabank has been made aware of a blog circulating that purports that there has been a data breach impacting customer accounts.
This information is unfounded, and the bank confirms that there has been no breach,” it said in a statement.
“Scotiabank remains committed to keeping customer accounts and financial information safe and secure and has established strong measures and safeguards to protect the confidentiality, integrity and resilience of our systems that process and maintain personal information.”
Scotia reminded customers that the bank would never ask for their PINs, passwords, and account numbers and cautioned them not to respond to text messages, e-mails, or websites that request personal information.
The Central Bank on Thursday told Barbados TODAY it would issue a statement on the development. (EJ)
