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Dele Oyewale, the Head of Media and Publicity for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has alerted Nigerians about the increasing incidents of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) swap fraud.
In a statement released on Tuesday in Ibadan, Oyewale emphasized that unauthorized withdrawals from customers’ bank accounts have been traced to fraudulent activities involving the swapping of ATM debit cards.
The modus operandi of these fraudsters includes holding a debit card from the same bank and swiftly swapping it while appearing to assist a confused bank customer at an ATM point.
Oyewale explained, “They swap the card in such a hurry that the customer would not notice and at the same time memorise 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 EFCC provided useful tips for the public to prevent further financial losses, including keeping cards in sight or in a secure place after transactions, regularly checking bank statements for unfamiliar transactions, setting transaction alerts, and covering the keypad when entering a PIN at POS terminals/ATM machines.
Other precautions recommended by the EFCC include not rushing payments or withdrawals, seeking assistance only from bank officials, promptly calling banks to block ATM cards when stuck in machines or in case of irregularities, knowing the bank’s ATM offline blocking code, and using the USSD code 966911# to instantly block an ATM card.
The EFCC urged the public to remain vigilant and take these precautions to safeguard against falling victim to ATM swap fraud.
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