Facts emerged on Tuesday that
electronic fraudsters had been
duplicating Automated Teller
Machine cards belonging to Nigerian bank customers and using them to buy items worth millions of dollars from shopping malls in the UnitedStates.
Top officials of the Central Bank of
Nigeria told our correspondent that
the development had made Nigerianbanks and their customers to belosing millions of naira to the e-fraud.
The development, it was learnt, had
become so overwhelming and that
top executives of the banks and
senior officials of the CBN had to
meet with a team of Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission
operatives led by the director of
operations in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to sources close to the
meeting, the banks are seeking the
assistance of the anti-graft agency to help in arresting some of the
fraudsters who are using the
duplicated ATM cards in the US.
From the outcome of the meeting, the EFCC is set to collaborate with a
sister agency in the US in order to
effect the arrest of some of the
electronic fraudsters.
The source disclosed, “Banks have
been losing a lot of money to
electronic fraudster cartels who are
using customers’ ATM cards to
fraudulently buy items across
shopping malls in the US.
“Normally, customers should bear the loss but because banks don’t want the issue to come to the public so that the use of ATM cards will not be discouraged, they settle those customers by paying the money.”
Asked how the Nigerian ATM cards
are being duplicated and used in the
US, a source close to the development explained, “In Nigeria,
we use chip and PIN, but the US still
uses magnetic stripe. So, what those fraudsters do is to get the details of a customers’ ATM card, duplicate it and then go to shopping malls and start using it to buy items.
“When they are using the PoS in US
shopping malls, all they do is to
swipe the card and then payment is
made. They don’t need to put any
PIN. Through these, items are bought
using Nigerian ATM cards.”
An EFCC source, who spoke under the
condition of anonymity, confirmed the
meeting and noted the anti-graft
agency was set to work with the US
government to arrest the fraudsters.
A top official in one of the top banks
said the incidence of electronic frauds
had been on the increase and the
development was a source of worry
to bank executives.
It was learnt that most of the frauds
were being perpetrated in connivance
with some bank officials.
The official recalled that prior to 2010
when Nigerian banks were still using
magnetic stripe for ATM cards; the
issue of using Nigerian ATM cards
fraudulently abroad was prevalent.
However, when the banking sector
migrated to the chip and PIN system,
the problem stopped.
“However, the frauds have started
again now in a new form of Nigerian
ATM cards being duplicated and used
abroad. The incidence is becoming
very high now and something has to
be done urgently to arrest the trend,”
the banker added.
Analysts have said that the
increasing incidence of electronic
frauds may affect the growth of the
cash-less Nigeria initiative.
The Deputy Governor, Corporate
Services, CBN, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu,
recently said at a conference that the
incidence of fraud involving bank
officials had been on the increase.
Adelabu, who is a former Executive
Director of First Bank of Nigeria,
linked the increasing frauds in the
banking sector to several issues,
including the banks’ poor recruitment
procedures and failure to prosecute
workers involved in fraudulent
activities for fear of reputational risk.
The Chairman, Chartered Institute of
Bankers of Nigeria, Lagos branch, Mr.
Abolade Agbola, linked the high
incidence of electronic frauds to lack
of integrity and poor staff conditions
in the banking sector.
“When you see the fraud that happens
and the trillions of transactions that
take place daily, then I think the
banks have to take the technology
ahead, take the staffing ahead and
then create a future for the members
of staff so that they can know that
they have a future in the
organisations and that they can build
a future,” he said.

No Sauce and u also forgot to add maggi

Naija no dey carry last.

If our people could invent good things the way they invent the evil nods Nigeria should have become the most sort after countries in the world.