The inside story of ATM fraud - sunnewsonline.com - 28 Jun 2008

Until the unthinkable happened, Adah Obande had always prided himself as a streetwise Nigerian. So streetwise he had never been a victim of pickpocket, burglary, room-to- let fraud, 419 scam or some high profile swindle. Caution was second nature to him; after all he was a security personnel trained to be one step ahead of criminals and their modus operandi. Both in his professional and private life his reflexes had never failed him as he had never lost a possession to a thief. However, his ironclad confidence was put to the test shortly after his return to Lagos from the last Christmas holiday.

Prior to the Yuletide, Obande had left the sum of N288,000 in his bank account. The last withdrawals he remembered doing were for the sum of N50,000.

Specifically, he withdrew first the sum of N20,000 from the Obalende branch of his bank. Then on 22nd December, the very day he set off for the village, he made another withdrawal of N30,000, this time using the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) at the Falomo branch of the same bank.

If his arithmetic was correct, Obande still had a tidy sum to start the New Year on a bright note. Unknown to him, he was in for a shock treatment as he glided across the polish floor of the bank to the counter. The cashier punched her buttons and then gave Obande an awkward look. “Sir, are you expecting any lodgement?” she asked as pleasantly as she could.

Obande was not expecting any deposit. He still had N288,000 left with the bank. Or so he thought. His account was in the red. He urged the cashier to check again, insisting there was a mistake somewhere. It was only a matter of minutes before the full explanation was given to him. The man almost had a heart attack as he was told that the N288,000 had been withdrawn via the ATM.

Before this shocker in the banking hall, Obande indeed had tried to withdraw some money in the morning of January 7th, 2008, using the ATM. At first, he had thought there was a problem with his ATM card because no matter how hard he punched, the machine kept telling him his account was empty. When he realized he might be in for a long haul, Obande accepted the advice of the bank staff at the Falomo branch of the bank to proceed to the bank’s headquarter at Marina. There he was handed over to one Mr. Tony who in recent times has found his job a little bit more fatiguing. Like his counterparts in almost all the banks, his desk is flooded on a daily basis with ATM-related complaints.

Investigations into Obande account would reveal that two faceless companies swept his N288,000 using the ATM.

The companies, or rather their addresses were given as www.immigration.com and www.earocontractor.com. The victim swore the companies did not belong to him. He never worked for them and had no business relationship with them. The theft was later reported to the Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria Police.

On Thursday, June 5, between the hours of 1.20-3.10 p.m, this reporter was in the premises of the Opebi branch of First Bank, observing ATM users and their seeming frustrations. Of the 26 customers that used the cash dispenser within this period, not a few came out cursing under their breath. The issues ranged from cards trapped inside the machine to PIN (Personal Identification Number) rejection.
One particular customer, a middle-aged man was left with little choice but to cause a scene as he protested that the machine had cheated him.

Before his very eyes, the ATM machine had processed his request but instead of dispensing the cash, the machine merely opened his mouth, brandished the crisp notes for the eager customer to see, and then swallowed the money all by itself. For his troubles, the bewildered customer received instead a receipt of transaction showing he had just successfully withdrawn N15,000. A security guard, who from his grin was obviously familiar with the various ATM antics, did his best to calm and reassure the agitated customer. He would lead him inside the bank’s building to lay complaint on yet another ATM ruse.
If the myriad incidences witnessed that day at Opebi could be glossed over as part of the teething problem of e-payment system introduced to the economy only a few years ago, the same cannot be said of the loss last week of N175,000 to ATM fraudsters.

The victim, this time, is a media practitioner. The man, Mr. Iheanachor, told SATURDAY SUN that on the particular day, he had first attempted to withdraw some money using the ATM in the premises of Guarantee Trust Bank in the Okota area of Lagos. When that proved unsuccessful, he proceeded to Zenith Bank at the same Okota. The outcome was grimly the same. A third attempt, this time at Eko Bank in the same neighbourhood fetched him N20,000 cash. For him, the end would have justified all the troubles but for a text message that came some hours later from his bankers, Intercontinental Bank, informing him that N175,000 had been withdrawn from his account via the ATM. From bank records, the N175,000 was withdrawn in eight transactions. The account holder said he knew nothing about those withdrawals. The matter is under investigation.
On the rise
Every week, hundreds of bank customers across the major cities are finding their deposits or a substantial part of it stolen by faceless crooks. Sources within the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) confirmed that ATM fraud is on the increase in Nigeria. The statistic is alarming. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) puts the losses to ATM-related theft last year alone at hundreds of millions of naira. It is about the commonest headache to all the banks in Nigeria and one seen by experts as capable of eroding in the long run the enviable gains of recapitalisation. At the moment,

By EMMANUEL MAYAH