Yes Bank Detects $280,000 Fraud in Forex Card Transactions

Yes Bank reported unauthorized transactions worth $280,000 on its multi-currency prepaid forex cards, linked to 15 merchants in Latin America. The bank's monitoring systems declined 688 fraudulent attempts, saving $100,000. Following a major stake acquisition by SMBC, Yes Bank is taking measures to prevent financial losses.

Yes Bank announced on Thursday that it had identified unauthorized transactions amounting to USD 280,000 (approximately Rs 2.5 crore) related to its multi-currency prepaid forex cards. The transactions occurred via 15 merchants based in a Latin American country and were discovered through the bank's fraud monitoring systems.

The bank's internal investigation revealed that during the incident period, transactions worth about USD 0.28 million were approved on behalf of 5,000 customers, despite 688 unauthorized transaction attempts being successfully blocked, saving USD 100,000. In response, Yes Bank has restricted e-commerce transactions from the specified Latin American region.

This incident marks the first major security issue for Yes Bank following the acquisition of a 24.9% stake by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) of Japan. With this acquisition, SMBC became the largest shareholder of Yes Bank and appointed two new directors.

(With inputs from agencies.)