The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission says the rate of unauthorised withdrawals from bank accounts of customers has become alarming.
The commission, through its Head, Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, said this in a statement.
It noted that after some investigations, the commission found that such withdrawals are linked to Automated Teller Machine, Debit Card swapping or fraud.
The statement read, “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has been inundated with a barrage of complaints from well-meaning Nigerians concerning unauthorised withdrawals from their bank accounts, which investigations by the commission have linked to Automated Teller Machine, ATM, Debit Card swapping or fraud.”
The EFCC added that the “modus operandi of fraudsters involved in this nefarious practice involves keeping a debit card of the same bank, and in the guise of helping a confused bank customer at any ATM point, swaps the card in such a hurry that the customer would not notice and at the same time memorises the pin used in trying the fake cards.
“These cards get stuck in the machine due to a wrong pin and the fraudster quickly abandons the victim, advising him/her to report to the bank while making away with the victim’s card to make immediate withdrawals from the account,” the statement added.
The commission noted that “card swapping typically happens in any service delivery point, such as Point of Sale, POS, terminals, ATM points, among others,” adding that the “banking public is enjoined to be more circumspect in the use of debit cards.”
