A Saudi Arabian Islamic bank application has been found to be able to help users track their bank accounts.
The application, called Islammobile, was discovered by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in August.
The Financial Crimes Action Task Force (FinCo) discovered Islammobile by monitoring the activity of a Saudi Arabian financial institution, and it was subsequently discovered to be capable of tracking accounts belonging to more than 500,000 users.
It is unclear how the application was discovered.
The app has been installed on approximately 30 million devices in the Middle East, according to data from the Islamic Bank of Saudi Arabia (IBSA).
Users can then access the application by scanning a QR code and entering the phone number they want to track their account.
The bank’s app allows users to check their bank balance, make payments, view balances and manage transactions.
“This application has a unique feature: it can monitor all of the financial information about all of its customers and users,” an Islamic bank spokesperson told Business Insider.
“The application uses a secure, encrypted method to secure the information it is collecting, and has been used by over 1.8 million banks across the region, including many in Saudi Arabia.”
“The bank is constantly monitoring the app to ensure it is compliant with FinCEN’s requirements, including the requirements to report suspected financial crimes,” the bank spokesperson said.
The Islamic Bank is one of several Saudi Arabian banks that have implemented security measures to prevent fraud in the wake of the 2016 attack in London.
“These measures have been in place for some time,” the Islamic bank’s spokesperson said in a statement.
“In fact, in December 2016, the Saudi Arabian government launched a series of security measures aimed at preventing further incidents from happening.”
“If you have questions about Islammobile and want to report a fraud, please contact the Financial Crime Unit at the Islamic Central Bank of the Kingdom (ICBC) at +971-622-9673,” the spokesperson added.
