The police say they have arrested two suspects for Automated Teller Machine, ATM, card swapping with 42 different bank cards in their possession, in Bida Local Government Area of Niger State, North-Central Nigeria.
The two suspects, namely, 46-year-old Philip Adefemi and 42-year-old Joseph Michael, are both from Nasarawa State.
A statement by Police spokesperson, Superintendent Wasi’u Abiodun, said on May 18, at about 10am., a victim was at a commercial bank in Bida to withdraw money. The machine would not dispense cash when he inserted his ATM card.
One person behind the victim at the ATM gallery requested to assist him, and in the process, it was unknown to the victim that his card had been swapped.
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The statement added that, a few minutes later, he received a debit alert of N400,000.
Upon receipt of the complaint, police operatives swung into action and arrested the suspects, while one Bala escaped.
Abiodun added that, in the course of the preliminary investigation, 42 ATM cards were recovered from the suspects, including those of the victim, and a Mercedes-Benz.
The suspects also claimed that they were coming from Abuja and heading to Offa in Kwara State for burial, and that they decided to spend the night in Bida, and that in the morning they tried to get some of the victim’s ATM cards from the gallery.
The suspects confessed further that most of the cards were expired cards used for swapping before using the victims’ cards for withdrawal after observing the password.
The suspects are under investigation and they will be prosecuted as soon as the process is concluded.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
