ATM: Internet Scammers Resurface
Kenneth O. Eze
Internet fraudsters are on the prowl again. They are hell bent on capitalising on gullible Nigerians by asking them to register their ATM card details online for a purported update. The faceless conmen, who have been vigorously disowned by major business concerns, like MTN, banks and Interswitch have launched their fraudulent website again.
An emailed letter they are deploying indiscriminately with the hope of hoodwinking unsuspecting people to pass their ATM details on to the criminal web claims that “InterSwitch Limited is carrying out a compulsory security check on all ATM cards. You are hereby advised to register your ATM card(s) immediately.” The email they circulated before this had claimed “as previously announced, we will be making changes.” They are walking the talk, coming up with new strategies, it seems.
Interswitch had mailed to the public on May 10, 2009, warning that the scam mail had been in circulation for sometime. The company warned that “it is a scam from fraudsters aimed at getting the unsuspecting cardholders to divulge their card and PIN details.” The mail further warned that “thereafter they will use these details to skim a card and use the PIN details to defraud the customers.”
The ATM traffic warden strongly warned: “Please on no condition must any customer or staff send a response to this mail nor divulge their card details and PIN to any party.”
It is an issue of concern that not long after these conmen were publicly disowned by all parties to the ATM payment platform, the faceless and shameless criminals are not just unrepentant in soliciting for people’s ATM details. They even threaten that those who fail to give their ATM details would be barred from further use of electronic payment platform.
They have gone psychologically combative. Scheming to employ fear to compel people to part with their ATM details to fuel their fraudulent plans, they threatened, “if you do not register your ATM card(s) immediately, you will no longer be able to use your card(s) on our ATM machines or for ATM transactions and your card(s) will be cancelled or terminated.” Coming from a nonexistent company, this threat can best be described as empty, but fears are mounting that unsuspecting people may fall prey.
The email contains a lead, where recipients were directed to click and register their ATM card(s). It is appalling that despite heavy media campaigns and massive public awareness activities that legitimate parties to the ATM have embarked upon, these criminals look undeterred. A source of worry to many is that these faceless fraudsters are roaming the streets free with no record of arrest to date.
Nearly all the major telecommunications companies in Nigeria have at one time or the other faced the challenge of their websites being cloned for purposes of defrauding the unsuspecting public. MTN, for instance, has had to mount a campaign to alert the public and dissociate itself from the menace of the internet bandits. Glo Mobile is currently struggling with the challenge of clearing its name from text messages making the rounds that tell people they have won prices and should go to a fake website to register to claim their winnings.
It had been alleged that cyberspace policing is proving very difficult in Nigeria because most of the websites are hosted offshore. Both genuine and fake websites have no root here, making it cumbersome for our law enforcement agents to track down perpetrators of internet fraud. The fake Interswitch website has been re-erected upon being shut-down repeatedly.
While Interswitch in an email directed at the public posits “that your PIN is your signature, please guide and protect it”, it is recommended that concerted efforts must be made by law enforcement agencies locally and internationally to check this fast spreading vice to shield the economy from the fraud virus.
