GCash: ‘No fund loss’ following over 300 lost cash reports, promises returns by 3 p.m.

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines— Following over 300 reports of “unauthorized transactions” depleting GCash users’ funds, the e-wallet service stated “no fund loss” has occurred and that balances will be returned to users by 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

“There is no fund loss. Doon po sa mga na-inconvenience, ito pong amount na ito ay maba-balance out, mare-reflect sa kanilang accounts,” clarified Gilda Maquilan, GCash Vice President for Corporate Communications, in a Tuesday Kabayan interview.

(There is no fund loss. The amounts will be balanced out and will reflect in the accounts of those who were inconvenienced.)

Several of these complaints involved an EastWest Banking Corp. account number ending in 5239 and an Asia United Bank (AUB) account number ending in 3008.

“Naka-receive nga po kami ng complaints sa mga customers… Immediately, tiningnan po namin [at] nagco-conduct kami ng investigation. In fact, until now we are still coordinating sa ating partner banks,” she added, referring to EastWest Bank and AUB.

(We have received complaints from customers… Immediately, we are observing and conducting an investigation. In fact, until now, we are still coordinating with our partner banks.)

EastWest Bank said in a separate statement that they have “been made aware of the news reports surrounding the system issues of another financial institution” and “are actively cooperating with authorities and investigating these reports.”

AUB has yet to issue a statement regarding this incident.

Maquilan further clarified all affected users could expect their accounts replenished by 3 p.m. following maintenance procedures.

“Unfortunately ‘yung ating system maintenance po is taking more [time] than usual pero confident po kami na by 3pm today, makukuha na po nila ang kanilang funds at maaaccess po natin ang GCash,” she answered when asked about the a previous advisory that the e-wallet would only be down only from 12 m.n. to 7 a.m.

(Unfortunately, our system maintenance is taking longer than usual, but we are confident that by 3 p.m. today, funds and GCash accounts will be accessible.)

GCash also confirmed in a later advisory that their systems were not hacked.

“Some customers may have experienced a deduction in their GCash account yesterday. We extended our scheduled maintenance to investigate and determined that no hacking occurred,” announced the e-wallet service.

https://www.facebook.com/gcashofficial/posts/pfbid02gteH33XkZK3WSM7kq2VsdanGAkkv3nbcczaU8DUgsLSBTXdpEF7gvn15QkyDi8Ml

As of 8:32 a.m., digital problem indicator DownDetector tagged a peak of 434 reports from GCash users experiencing difficulty accessing their e-wallet accounts. Its latest count tallied 282 reports as of 10:02 a.m.

APL/abc

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