Nepal cautions Beijing as five Chinese men hack into ATMs

Nepal has officially raised the matter of a Chinese man involved in a massive ATM hacking scandal that led to Nepali banks losing millions of rupees.

On August 31, five Chinese nationals in Nepal, in a coordinated action, tampered with an ATM switch that links the Nepal Electronic Payment System (NEPS) to 11 Nepali banks and withdrew a large amount of cash. The culprits has arrived in Nepal on the previous day and planned to leave on September 2.

The Nepali Foreign Ministry briefed its Chinese counterpart about the involvement of its nationals in one of the biggest scams the country has seen and told them that such incidents could create a very bad reputation for the country.

Nepali Foreign Ministry officials, along with Finance Ministry officials briefed China on the nature of crime and the modus operandi used. Nepal also warned China that future incidents like this one could impact Chinese business interest in Nepal.

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), Nepal's central bank, convened a special meeting to of all banks to discuss the issue on September 9 and 10. The matter was to be raised with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his visit to the country earlier this month but Nepal decided to not raise the issue at the end moment to avoid embarrassment. Yi was on a visit to China from September 8 to 10.

Approximately, Nepali Rs 34.5 million was withdrawn illegally, including INR 10.5 million from India according to Bam Bahadur Mishra, chief of the Payment Systems Department at NRB, who was quoted by local media.

The incident raised eyebrows internationally as well as about how criminals were able to find loopholes in the electronic financial systems of Nepal.

Though there have been previous cases of ATM being hacked in Nepal, including a 2017 case involving NIC Asia Bank. This is one of the largest electronic financial frauds that has come to light in the South Asian country in recent years.

—Zee Media Newsroom