In April 2019, the then Barclays Bank ATM at Mutindwa, Nairobi was jackpotted and over Sh6 million stollen by the daring robbers.
ATM jackpotting is the exploitation of physical and software vulnerabilities in automated banking machines that result in the machines dispensing cash, according to Wikipedia definition.
Nearly 2 years later, clients report that the ATM sometimes malfunctions.
“Sometimes one withdraws money, the ATm returns the card and receipt but doesn’t dispense cash’, said one of the residents.
This has caused anguish to some Absa clients, however, some say that the bank is always quick to refund the money if one contacts their customer care.
Nonetheless, it remains an inconvenience to many who don’t have the luxury of waiting for the money in an emergency.
But this, a banking expert explains can do the transactions online through mobile banking or internet banking.
Banks in Kenya lose billions of shillings annually to cybercriminals.
According to the Communications Authority of Kenya’s sector statistics report for the fourth quarter of 2020, cyber threats rose by over 50 per cent to 56.2 million incidences from 35.1 million threats reported in the previous quarter. Of note, malware and application attacks continued to rank highly among the factors that have contributed to the surge in emergent cybersecurity challenges.
Robbers steal Sh11 million from Barclays Bank ATMs at Mutindwa & Buruburu
Kenya’s economy lost Sh29.5 billion to cybercrime and related activities in 2018 as criminals stepped up attacks on banks, Saccos and government agencies.
“From our survey, we estimated the cost of cybercrime in Kenya at Sh29.5 billion for 2018, which is 40 per cent increase from the Sh21 billion reported over a similar period in 2017,” explained Serianu Chief Executive Wiliam Makatiani.
“In 2020, the Group successfully prevented a theft of Sh2 billion, in attempted fraud, thanks to our robust cybersecurity systems,” said KCB without giving details of arrest or legal action over the heist.
ATM jackpotting which exploits the hardware vulnerabilities of the teller machines happens so often than banks dare to accept.
A hacked file dump of Access Bank (previously Transnational Bank) showed that it suffered ATM Jackpotting thefts in their rural branches in Kericho and Eldoret. This was never reported in the media until a local business blog covered it in 2020.
ATM maintenance is also an expensive affair but gladly Kenyans are moving to non-traditional ways of transacting with their commercial banks.
