An Arabian Business Poll conducted recently has revealed the fact that almost 77% of customers were not satisfied with the way their banks handled the ATM scam to hit the UAE.

Last week, a terror was spread around in the UAE, when some fraudsters used fake credit and debit cards to withdraw the money from the ATM. Following this new security measures are being introduced by the banks to fight the menace of fraudsters, and customers are also being instructed to change the passwords and codes of their debit and credit cards.

The banks which have sent a warning letters to their customers after the incident of withdrawing the money took place are Lloyds TSB, HSBC, Citibank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Dubai Bank.

But the online poll has suggested that 77% customers were not happy with the way they were treated by the banks when the scam took place.

45% of these reported that they were left uninformed as to whether their accounts have been tampered with and have not received any information regarding this from their respective banks.

The other 32% feel that the banks lack in the ability to provide customer service to them and thus they were thinking to change their banks. However, five percent also reported that they were completely satisfied with the way the Bank treated them during the situation of crisis arose. They felt that the banks kept them at ease and acted ‘excellently.’

Some 17% of other customers reported that they were sent warning through the SMSs and thus they too were kept at ease and had no grudges against the bank authorities. They were even given advices to protect their accounts from the criminals.

Though the amount of the money stolen was not clear, Dubai Bank confirmed, “We have temporarily blocked international use of its automated teller machines after 42 of its customers were affected.”

The poll has also revealed that 63% of respondents claimed the bank service to be the worst they have ever received in the region. The other 17% felt that thought initially the banks were helpful, but the customer service vanished once the accounts were set up.