1 month ago
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National Commercial Bank, NCB, says it’s owed several million dollars by customers who exploited a glitch in its system governing transactions with the ride sharing platform, Uber.
The technical issue resulted in some NCB Visa debit card customers being able to use Uber’s services, effectively free of charge for several months.
Daina Davy reports.
According to NCB, over 8,000 accounts have been impacted by the system glitch. The bank says this is the preliminary data based on investigated transactions dating back to May 2024.
Among the 8,000 accounts, NCB has identified 300 which it has temporarily frozen for further investigation due to unusually high volumes and types of Uber transactions.
NCB’s vice-president for Payments Services and Digital Channels, Danielle Cameron Duncan, says the other 7,700 accounts belong to customers who may not have realised the transactions were not completed.
Mrs. Cameron Duncan explained the glitch.
Mrs. Cameron Duncan says she understands some customers colluded with their Uber drivers to apply exorbitant tips — up to $30,000 for a trip, then share the funds with that driver, once the bank had applied the amounts to their account.
The bank says some customers completed an exceptionally high number of Uber transactions—some exceeding 700 rides within a single month—indicating possible exploitation of the system malfunction.
She says the bank became aware of the issue after seeing an unusually high volume of Uber transactions on the accounts of some customers.
The bank was further moved to investigate by queries from other customers who drew attention to the fact that the cost of rides they took using Uber, were not deducted by the bank.
She says the bank has already recouped funds from several accounts. However, several million dollars are still owed.
Mrs. Cameron Duncan says NCB will take all necessary legal measures to recover the monies owed. NCB says it is also willing to set up a payment plans with customers.
English (US) ·