Multiple users of a cobranded forex card issued by Yes Bank and BookMyForex have alleged unauthorised transactions on their multi-currency cards
Many of these transactions had originated from Brazil and were being attempted on cards that had been inactive for years, raising red flags
BookMyForex has denied any data breach on its end, claiming that customer funds are safe and affected cards were blocked by the bank
Update | February 25, 21:30 IST
YES Bank has claimed that fraudulent transactions worth $840K (₹7.63 Cr) were approved on behalf of 5,000 customers between 03:30 IST and 08:30 IST on Tuesday. In a statement, the startup added that 688 unauthorised transaction attempts were declined, safeguarding customer funds approximately $100K (around ₹9 Cr).
“The bank is working with Card Network to raise chargeback to ensure that the impacted
customers do not face any financial loss,” YES Bank said in a statement.
As per the bank, unauthorised transactions were attempted on specific bank identification numbers (BIN) only, originating from a Latin American country that doesn’t mandate two-factor authentication for ecommerce transactions, presumably Brazil.
“As a security measure, the bank has subsequently restricted e-commerce transactions from the specific Latin American Country,” it added.
Original | February 25, 4:00 PM IST
Multiple users of forex cards issued by YES Bank in partnership with MakeMyTrip-owned startup BookMyForex alleged that their multi-currency cards saw unauthorised transactions. Many of these attempts failed due to insufficient balance on the cards, but some users alleged that they lost funds.
“My #bookmyforex card was used by someone in BRL for this grocery shop MIX MATEUS BAYEUX BR for around $350 USD with multiple transactions #yesbank. Some of the transactions failed but some succeeded, and I lost $350 USD,” a user said on X.
Fearing a data breach, YES Bank has begun blocking cards in specific cohorts that may have been affected by the fraudulent transactions, sources told Inc42, adding that the financial impact was contained as the bank started denying suspicious transaction requests and will issue chargebacks to customers whose balances were depleted.
The breach appears to have started yesterday, when multiple users took to social media to report that unauthorised transactions were being made on their forex cards. Many of these transactions originated from Brazil, specifically at a grocery store in the country, and were being attempted on cards that had been inactive for years, raising red flags.
Some users also alleged that they were unable to log in to the platform to block the cards themselves.
“Fraudulent transactions are happening in my card in Brazil. Book my Forex application is inaccessible as it is glitching severely. Helplines aren’t up yet. I’m just sitting here – watching the hacker do their magic. Fun,” a user said.
While most of such fraudulent transactions were denied, many users alleged that funds were deducted from their cards before they could be blocked.
Forex cards are pre-loaded with cash for easier access to multiple currencies during international travel without the need to pay conversion fees. Notably, many of the transactions on these cards couldn’t go through because of insufficient funds.
In a statement, BookMyForex said that no data breach took place on its end. “There has been no data breach involving BookMyForex systems or customer data. YES Bank observed unusual volumes of false transaction attempts on YES BANK – BookMyForex multi-currency prepaid forex cards which resulted in a high number of declined transactions. These transactions, when analysed, were found to originate from a specific country. The Bank has blocked transactions from this specific country which was identified as the source of all these attempts,” a spokesperson of BookMyForex said.
“As a precautionary measure, cards involved in these attempted transactions were also proactively blocked,” the spokesperson said, adding that customer’s funds are safe and “complimentary replacement cards” are being issued to affected customers.
YES Bank was unavailable for comment at the time of publishing.
Founded in 2012 as a foreign currency exchange service provider, BookMyForex enables its customers to buy or sell foreign currencies in cash, load forex cards, and process cross-border payments from India to anywhere in the world.
MakeMyTrip’s fintech arm Trip Money acquired a majority stake in the startup in 2022 to offer its product suite to its customers.
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