On Monday, March 11, 2012, I got a phone call from BDO.  They wanted me to go to my branch of account and apply for a new card because my ATM card had just been cancelled by the system.  I asked why.  I was told that my card number was used to make an online purchase.

That is a savings ATM account.  I only use it to cash checks but as soon as the checks are good, I usually use the cash.  There’s usually just a minimum balance there.  Nothing to interest a card-cloning syndicate from Bulgaria.

I also never use that card except at BDOs at the mall, on the machines which are usually right outside the bank.  I don’t give out my PIN.  I don’t lend my card, not to my kids, not even to my husband. I don’t let anybody take money from that account using that card for me.  That card almost always sleeps in my wallet which is in my purse all the time.  No one has access to that card or to the number on that card.  Even I don’t know what the card number is.  It is just for control, the number on the ATM card is different from the account number.

When I got to the bank, I was told that it was only my card number (the control number of the card appearing on the ATM card itself) that was used for an online purchase.  The bank thinks that it was randomly generated.  The card number was compromised, but not the account number.  I checked the updated passbook and the funds were intact.  The bank was not reassuring, however.

Then on Tuesday night, an employee from ABS-CBN had her account hacked and her money was stolen.  Someone had cloned her card and withdrew P131,000.00 from her account from Bulgaria.  At least only my card number was compromised. I got a new card.

On Wednesday I got another call.  Another ATM card of mine was also compromised.  This time the advisory from the head office did not state what happened except that the card has been cancelled and a new one was ordered for me.  When I got to the bank, there was another man there and he seemed agitated.  He was a call center agent and he was asleep when the bank called him and he was suddenly afraid for his money.  He and I were in the same boat.  I got another card. And he got his but neither of us felt safe.

That day, I had to go to San Fernando with my husband.  I decided to talk with the manager of the bank where I regularly use the ATM. When I got there to talk to the manager, there were 15 people waiting in line to get their new cards.  The same thing has happened to their depositors there.

That bank manager was mottherly and she reassured me that it was just a precautionary measure.  She offered to update my account passbook so that I can check if my funds were compromised as well. I said I had already withdrawn money over the counter and the passboook was already updated.

I’m beginning to think that this is the safest way to go.  Just not use the ATM card, and instead, use the passbook for over-the-counter withdrawals.  I cannot give you any advice to keep your card numbers or ATM account numbers from being compromised, cloned, phished or from being randomly generated and used by someone else.  I’d like to think I had been careful, myself, that it was all just a coincidence.  But what are the probabilities that two of my ATMS would be compromised in a week?

I was told that I was overreacting.  That I should just relax because the funds were not touched at all. I was luckier than that ABS-CBN employee.  It’s just money and money can always be earned.  But then, again, this is little consolation.  It was not the funds I had lost, it was the trust in the integrity of the system that I lost.  It is the same as when someone comes into my house without my knowledge or consent and rifles through my stuff without taking anything. My sense of safety just cannot be whole ever again.  And even if I change banks, that still will not guaranty the integrity or safety of the system.  No system is safe.

What’s worse is that my kids are naturally reluctant to put their money in the bank (lahat ng pamasko they just spend or save up in a piggy bank for emergencies).  Their trust in the banking system was shattered when the bank raised the minimum balance without informing them and their balances were just spent paying for the monthly service charge.  And now this.  It’s the credibility of the banking system that is at stake. I feel like I was suddenly thrust into the cosmos of George Orwell’s 1984 and Big Brother is watching.  Big Brother sees everything. Nothing is safe or private anymore.

The Bible is still true: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. (Matthew 16:19-20)

The Apostle James has a more dire view: “Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire.  Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. (James 5:3)

I just prayed to God to keep the hard-earned money safe as I can do nothing to keep that money safe. I was saving up for the tuition fees that have to be paid in May. The money is not mine, it will be for the kids, to be used in the next few months.  Trust God to supply the need for safety and to heal the mind from its anxiety. The earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof, after all.  The money in the bank is God’s.  I am only a steward of it.  I will give an account of it to Him. This is what I can do.