An unidentified virus has attacked the servers of Bank Alfalah Limited, rendering over 80 of its automated teller machines (ATMs) across the city out of order for the past few days. This mysterious illness has caused thousands of the bank’s customers some serious problems as regards withdrawing money through the ATMs, some of which are entirely unusable, while the others displa a message on the screen that reads “No response from host server”. According to the officials at the bank’s Shahrah-e-Faisal branch, a virus has attacked the servers of several branches across the metropolis, causing bad sectors in the hard drives.
They said that the virus has adversely affected the performance of the bank’s routine business, besides damaging the account holders’ data. Efforts are being made to ensure smooth functioning of the bank’s ATMs, they added. One of the bank’s loyal customers, Razzak, told this scribe that he had tried a number of ATMs, but was left disappointed due to “error from the host server”. “Is this the way the bank treats a common citizen who just wants to withdraw some of his own money through the bank’s ATM?” he said with an exasperated expression. The State Bank of Pakistan should take serious notice of the situation and take strict action against the bank for causing an inconvenience for its customers, he demanded.
Another bank customer told Pakistan Today that after getting his car refuelled at a filling station, he tried paying for it with his debit card. However, he went on to say, the staff of the filling station returned my debit card to me, saying that it was rejected by the bank’s server. “I got so confused after the bank server rejected my debit card. Besides, withdrawing money through a cheque was extremely troublesome because I feared someone might rob me,” he added. One of the bank’s customer services officers, Yaqoob, said that at least 75 to 80 ATMs of the bank have been out of order for the past week. However, he said, experts are busy updating the ATM software so that the customers could be facilitated as soon as possible. “Due to a software error, the bank’s link with the ATMs breaks off frequently, which in turn causes problems for the customers,” he added.
