National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCBJ) says it has identified a technical issue affecting Uber transactions made by some customers using their Visa Debit cards and is actively addressing the discrepancy.
According to the bank, certain transactions were not being charged to customers’ accounts, resulting in unpaid balances and, in some cases, potential fraudulent activity/scams.
“During our review, we detected unusual activity patterns, including instances where some customers completed an exceptionally high number of Uber transactions—some exceeding 700 rides within a single month — indicating possible misuse or exploitation of the issue. As our investigation continues, we have communicated with Visa debit customers regarding the funds owed and which will be processed for Uber transactions made,” a statement from NCBJ outlined.
So far, the bank has processed the owed balances from the accounts in which funds were available or temporarily placed liens on accounts with insufficient funds until the outstanding amounts are recovered. Bank accounts flagged for suspicious activity will be blocked pending further review.
“We are working closely with Visa to identify and resolve the underlying cause of this issue,” NCB explained further.
However, it assured the public that only about one per cent of its Visa debit cardholders or over 8,000 accounts have been impacted, with investigated transactions dating back to the period of May 2024.
“We understand the importance of maintaining transparency and are committed to updating our customers as new information becomes available. In the meantime, we have temporarily frozen about 300 accounts for further investigation due to unusually high volumes and types of Uber transactions,” NCBJ concluded.
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