When information-technology consultant Ronald Lee was at a Kuala Lumpur mall in November last year, he checked his Maybank account balance at an automated teller machine (ATM).
He noticed a discrepancy in his account, but assumed that it was caused by currency conversion.
It was only after he returned to Singapore that he realised that he had indeed lost $1,610.23.
The money had been siphoned off in three unauthorised withdrawals made in Kuala Lumpur.
Police confirmed that Mr Lee, 36, filed a report on the unauthorised withdrawals on Nov 8, nearly a week after he learnt of the discrepancy.
Investigations into the case are still ongoing, the police said.
Mr Lee told my paper yesterday that he had never been to the locations where his money was withdrawn.
"I don't recall using or even pulling out my ATM card until I withdrew money at the shopping centre. There was already a dip in my account balance at the time," he said.
He was angry enough about being a fraud victim, but he got even angrier at Maybank, which took a long time to respond to him.
"I was about to give up (on chasing Maybank for an answer) until the DBS case came to light," he said. "That was when I knew that banks could address and rectify such issues swiftly."
DBS Group Holdings revealed last week that it had lost $500,000 to fraudsters who withdrew cash from the accounts of about 400 customers.
The bank - the largest here with 4.3 million customers - reacted promptly by contacting the people believed to have been affected by the fraud.
A DBS spokesman said the withdrawals were part of a card-skimming operation. The money was withdrawn from several banks' ATMs in Malaysia over a period of about two days.
DBS has since refunded the stolen amounts to the victims. Its chief executive, Mr Piyush Gupta, has conveyed the bank's apologies to its customers.
In previous incidents of unauthorised ATM withdrawals, DBS took longer to complete its investigations.
Meanwhile, Mr Lee is adamant that his case, which involved a "significant" amount, has been delayed for too long. He has asked Maybank for video footage of the locations where the fraudulent withdrawals from his account were made.
Ms Helen Neo, head of business operations and support in Maybank Singapore, said the bank responded to Mr Lee within a week of receiving his notice.
It is believed that the bank advised Mr Lee to report the matter to the police and await investigation results.
Ms Neo reiterated that checks are "conducted frequently" on the bank's ATMs and that it has not received other reports of unauthorised withdrawals from customer accounts.
A check with other banks here revealed that they have not received customer complaints about card- skimming incidents.
A United Overseas Bank (UOB) spokesman said the bank takes a "multi-layered approach" to security but declined to reveal details.
UOB is in the process of rolling out SMS alerts that will be triggered whenever a transaction over a certain amount is made from a customer's account.
This comes amid Mr Gupta's announcement on Wednesday that DBS will implement similar SMS alerts for its customers.
Mr Pranav Seth, OCBC Bank's head of e-business, said the bank will also implement such SMS alerts. It will take into account "several criteria, including customers' behaviour, withdrawal patterns and overseas- travel frequency", he said.
"We are also implementing an option to allow the customer to switch ATM withdrawals on or off (when he is) overseas."
Mr Seth added that OCBC's ATMs have anti-skimming devices that help prevent fraud.
"We ensure that all our anti-skimming devices are functioning at all times," he said.
