According to the latest Yahoo! news, a "brazen" scheme intended to rob a Swedish bank of "millions" was foiled at the last minute by an alert bank employee. Reports indicate that the would-be robbers were thwarted when the employee literally pulled the plug on a device planted on his work station, which had been accessing his files and directing his computer to transfer funds from one account to another.
I was pleasantly surprised to read about the frustrated robbery, not least because it indicates that sleepiness is not a necessary qualification for employment in a bank. However, I was taken aback to realize that these exciting events happened in August 2007, with Swedish police successfully having arrested seven of the suspects just this past Wednesday. There are reports that the arrests were just in time to prevent another robbery scheduled this week.
While I assume that the Swedish police kept the story quiet for several months in order to make the necessary arrests, I am more than a little concerned about the possibilities of remote-control robberies on a massive scale. While the latest Philippine bank robberies continue to involve guns, masked villains, and getaway cars, the threatened use of technology in criminal enterprises could have long-term effects on the stability of the banking industry. Public perception is as susceptible to reports of flawed security in banks overseas as it is with regard to local bank security, largely because of the flow of capital between local and international financial institutions. It remains to be seen whether the Legislature (or even the Bangko Sentral) will come up with more stringent security measures for banks, with an eye towards preventing high-tech crime.
Please see:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080130/ap_on_hi_te/sweden_digital_bank_robbery;_ylt=Alh.DPqdFU_4dY_vk77sUtBj24cA
1 comment:
True true true..
If this were to happen in the Philippines, the Banking System would probably collapse. In Banking, there is a thing called "Systemic Risk". If one bank falls, due to a high-tech robbery invovling a huge amount, and this robbery is leaked to the media, we could very well see a mass withdrawal by frightened depositors. And if one bank suffers a lot and consequently goes under, this could again cause public perception to view the banking system as collapsing, hence, a chain reaction might occur.
Lesson: Spend you money. Interest won't cover inflation anyway.
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