Whitney Bank has deactivated the debit cards of more than 7,100 Whitney Bank Louisiana customers, including an unspecified number in the Baton Rouge area, after detecting a fraud late Saturday in which perpetrators were able to access customers’ debit card numbers and PINs.
In a statement provided to Daily Report this afternoon, Whitney says its banking system was not compromised. However, dozens of its ATM machines were tampered with in a process that involved attaching a plastic mold and metal plate to the card receptors to capture card numbers and PINs.
“This type of ATM fraud is designed to access debit card numbers and cash and does not compromise customer bank account information,” the statement says.
The fraud was detected after the bank detected unauthorized activity at several of its ATMs. It immediately contacted law enforcement agencies, examined all the bank’s ATMs, and removed any illegal attachments discovered. As an extra precaution, it immediately deactivated and is reissuing the 7,100 debit cards, regardless of whether those customers’ accounts were affected.
The bank says it assumes responsibility and will not allow customers to incur any losses because of the fraud incident. Whitney officials are working closely with the appropriate investigative and law enforcement agencies and carefully monitoring ATMs and customer ATM transactions in Louisiana for attempted fraud. As an added security measure, the bank has initiated additional ATM security in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Texas. —Stephanie Riegel
