New Delhi: YES Bank has taken corrective measures after detecting a spike in suspicious transactions on its Multi-Currency Prepaid Forex Cards, the lender said in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday.
The cards, issued in partnership with BookMyForex, witnessed an “unusual increase” in transaction declines flagged by the bank’s fraud monitoring systems in the early hours of February 24.
According to the bank, the unauthorised transactions were attempted on specific Bank Identification Numbers (BINs) and originated from 15 merchants based in a Latin American country between 3:30 am and 8:30 am IST. The country in question does not mandate two-factor authentication (2FA) for e-commerce transactions.
As a precautionary step, the bank has restricted e-commerce transactions originating from the identified geography.
5,000 customers impacted
YES Bank’s internal investigation revealed that transactions worth approximately $0.28 million were approved during the incident window, impacting around 5,000 customers.
However, the lender said its fraud detection systems successfully declined 688 unauthorised transaction attempts, safeguarding nearly $0.1 million.
“The Bank is working with the card network to raise chargebacks to ensure that the impacted customers do not face any financial loss,” it said in the statement.
Heightened scrutiny on cross-border prepaid cards
The episode once again underscores the vulnerability of prepaid forex instruments in jurisdictions where additional authentication layers such as 2FA are not mandatory. Industry executives say cross-border e-commerce transactions remain a key fraud vector, especially for prepaid instruments that may not always require OTP-based validation overseas.
YES Bank reiterated its commitment to data security and customer protection, adding that it continues to monitor the situation closely in coordination with relevant stakeholders.
The Mumbai-headquartered lender operates across retail, MSME and corporate banking segments and maintains an International Banking Unit at GIFT City, along with a representative office in Abu Dhabi.