The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has assured commoners that their bank accounts have not been snitched.
The commoners have been terrorized after news reports of hackers withdrawing money from ATMs (automated teller machine) of some banks Saturday night. "There are problems in ATM system of some banks, and one cannot use ATMs to withdraw money now. But money has not been illegally withdrawn," NRB Spokesperson Laxmi Prapanna Niraula assured on Sunday.
Though hackers withdrew money, it was not from individual bank accounts, he claimed. The NRB and Nepal Electronic Payment Systems (NEPS) are holding discussions after problem in ATMs of over a dozen banks but the reason for problems in the system have yet to be known.
Security agencies, however, claim that the ATMs are not functioning due to hacking of the system. Senior police officers add that the problems arose due to the group of Chinese nationals who were arrested while withdrawing money from ATMs Saturday night.
Police arrested five Chinese nationals while withdrawing money from ATMs after hacking.
A team of Metropolitan Police Range arrested the group of Chinese, who were withdrawing money using cards of Nabil Bank, from a hotel in Durbar Marga Saturday night. The team led by DSP Habindra Bogati recovered Rs 12.60 million and US$ 10,000 from them.
One person was arrested while withdrawing money from a Nabil Bank ATM. Involvement of the other four was revealed after investigation of the person arrested while withdrawing money.
