Banks deny failing to report thefts

Press, 25 May 1984, Page 1

Banks deny failing to report thefts

Spokesmen for the Bank of New Zealand and the Australian and New Zealand Bank have denied a statement by the head of the Auckland police fraud squad, Detective Inspector Barry Matthews, that some banks are not reporting Autobank money machine thefts because of bad publicity.

Detective Inspector Matthews said on Wednesday that banks were holding back information because it encouraged other criminals. He also said that Autobank systems were an “utter disaster” and designed for criminals.

A.N.Z.’s marketing and public affairs manager, Mr Peter Hazael, said yesterday that he believed that Detective Inspector Matthews had been “slightly misquoted.” A.N.Z. and the B.N.Z. had been running Autobanks jointly for 18 months, and in that time there had been only four cases of identified fraud among more than one million transactions.

This was a very minor percentage, and Detective

Inspector Matthews’ comments did not reflect the experience of his consortium, said Mr Hazael. All four cases, which included the theft on Maj’ 13 of $14,000 from three machines in Christchurch, had been reported to the police.

Most of these cases would not have happend if cardholders had kept their card and personal identification number separate as instructed, he said. The B.N.Z.’s chief manager of branch banking, Mr T. S. Tennant, said that the B.N.Z. co-operated fully with the police in any case of theft or criminal activity. “There is no way we would put a wedge between the police and financial institutions. The police are most helpful, and we do all we can to assist them,” he said.

There was “absolutely no truth” in Detective Inspector Matthews’ comments, he said.

Westpac’s public affairs manager. Mr Bill Day, said Westpac had had “three or four” thefts from its Handi-

bank money machines, but none was very significant. All had been reported to the police.

“We have always had a good rapport with the police, and we are grateful tor the work they do,” he said.

Westpac’s money machine was different from the Autobank system, he said. The managing director of the United Building Society's southern region. Mr Colin Jenkins, said United had had two minor instances of fraud from its money machines. Both cases resulted from customers leaving their cards and personal identification numbers lying around. Both cases were dealt with by the police.

United had a very strict procedure that had operated successfully for about three years, said Mr Jenkins.

Money machines were not a “disaster” but in fact improved security. The general manager of Trusteebank Canterbury, Mr Frank Dickson, said that no money machine system was foolproof, and his bank had had some minor instances of fraud. However, the online real-time system it used made fraud almost impossible. Police national headquarters said yesterday that there was “no evidence” that banks were seeking to avoid adverse publicity by not reporting thefts. The Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Mr Brian Davies, national head of crime and operations, said he had asked Detective Inspector Matthews to explain the basis of his belief that some banks were not reporting thefts.