MAKKAH – A Saudi has complained to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) after a local bank deducted SR5,000 from his account without his knowledge. Dr. Abdul Rahman Qasim said a few months back he attempted to withdraw SR5,000 from his account using the bank's ATM, and was surprised when the machine rejected the transaction, giving him a message that he had exceeded the daily withdrawal limit. He said: “I didn't take out any money from the ATM that day. I don't understand why this message popped up on the screen.” Initially he thought it was a technical glitch and the bank would reverse the transaction. After waiting for several days and noticing that the money was not credited back to his account, he decided to go to the bank. The bank official who Qasim spoke to did not believe him and insisted that he had withdrawn the money. Qasim then filed a complaint with SAMA. However, five months have passed since the complaint was filed with SAMA and the money has still not been credited to his account, he said. Despite the fact it was only a small amount, Qasim said he wondered why SAMA was taking so long to respond to the complaint. “What if the amount was SR100,000? What would I do? Would SAMA also take all this time to look into my complaint?” Qasim called on SAMA to address his claim and have the bank credit the SR5,000 back to his account as soon as possible.
