BY MIKE OSAROGIAGBON
A team of policemen on a random stop-and-search operation in Benin metropolis has apprehended a man with 47 debit cards, also known as Automated Teller Machine (ATM cards) belonging to customers of different commercial banks operating across Nigeria.
The police also recovered from the suspect two Point of Sale (POS) machines which he uses to defraud unsuspecting customers in the state.
The suspect, Agbo Monday Obande, a Benue State indigene was among suspected criminals paraded by the Commissioner of police, Edo State CP Mohammed Dankwara in Benin City last week.
“On Decer 10th, 2023 at about 1400hrs, operatives of Command Monitoring Unit while on township patrol intercepted one Agbo Monday along Sapele Road while on a stop and search, the following exhibits were recovered from him, (1) 47 ATM cards of different banks, (2) 2 POS machines.
“On interrogation on how he came about the items, the suspect could not give satisfactory explanation… thereby making him to become a suspect of a fraudster.
“Suspect made statement and confessed to be a fraudster by swapping unsuspected innocent Nigerians of their ATM cards thereby defrauding them of their money,” Dankwara said.
The police boss advised the public to be extra vigilant while engaging services of POS agents for any transaction to avoid being defrauded, afterwards.
“People should be very careful going to withdraw money from POS operators, when you give them your card, they will take video as you put your PIN, when they are removing your card from the machine, they swap it with the old card and keep your own.
“Most of them are very inquisitive, they want to see what you want to put as your code, once they give you the machine to put your PIN, don’t put your PIN in their presence, take it away from them before putting your PIN, confirm that it’s your card they return to you.
“The should not give them that privilege of time to manipulate and give them old card.
“Once they operate here today, tomorrow you will find them here again, they are mobile POS operators, they are criminals. He will be charged to court on completion of investigation”, the CP stated.
The suspect, Agbo Monday, while speaking with journalists corroborated CP Dankwara adding that his part in the fraud ends with the swapping of customers cards.
“Exactly what the Commissioner said, I swap their (customers) ATM cards, I will send the information to my friend who uses bank app to withdraw the money in the customer’s account and pays me my share.
“I have made just N200,000.00 (two hundred thousand Naira only) since I started it four months ago”, the suspect confessed.
