On Christmas day, a number of Kenyan ATM users tweeted that they had received alerts that there had been fraudulent activity on their bank accounts. The alerts detailed “unusual withdrawal activity” for Kenyans who banked with Standard Chartered, Barclays, Kenya Commercial Bank and Stanbic:

@maina_bejamin: Not a very Merry Xmas to Stanchart, KCB, Barclays and Stanbic customers whose accounts have been defrauded in that massive ATM scam. Poleni [I am sorry]

Logo of Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB).

@TerryanneChebet: RT @gkogolla: RT @gmeltdown: Just got my Stanchart ATM PIN stolen/changed and cash withdrawn. People CHANGE your PIN numbers!!

@MisterAlbie: Stanchart account holders in Nairobi will be clocking impressive marathon timings as they dash to the nearest ATM to change their PIN.

However, some Kenyans were skeptical about the claims and went ahead to tweet their doubts about the developing story:

@Paapa_: Peeps who are planning to overspend then blame it on stanchart, we see you

There have been calls for the banks to block ATM withdrawals until they sort the mess out:

@bintiM: Is it possible for Stanchart to block ATM withdrawals until they sort this out? It's gotten crazy

There has been no official communication from bank officials and all that Kenya's ATM users can do is change their ATM pin numbers.