Cyber criminals emptied marriage savings of bachelor. See how they do it

On November 3, Ayo, a freelance journalist, was in the comfort of his room drawing a list of what he would need for his impending wedding and to set up a business for his wife to be. For these, he relied mainly on the money he had saved from his toils over the years.

But while he was busy drawing the items, his phone was being hit by messages in quick succession, but he was too engrossed with the task at hand to be distracted by them. By the time it occurred to him to check the short messages on his phone, he realised, to his chagrin, that they were debit alerts from his bank. The money he had banked on for the execution of his plans had been pilfered from his account. Surprisingly, the message in the debit alert indicated that the withdrawal had occurred two days earlier (November 1).

Ayo’s major shock was how it was possible for a third party to withdraw money from his account while he had his ATM card and mobile phone with him.

“When I went to my bank to complain, they searched and found that the money was withdrawn through a modern online payment system. I subsequently reached out to the company and they confirmed what the bank had told me,” he said.

Lamenting the situation, he said: “They have spoilt all my plans. They have returned me to ground zero. Where would I start from again?”

Checks with security and banking experts revealed that Ayo’s experience was one in the long list of ATM cards cloned and used to steal money from the accounts of innocent bank customers. According to ICT experts, most of such crimes are done with the connivance of bank officials.

Bakare, a colleague of the reporter, also tasted the bitter pill recently. He was also at home with other members of his family on a weekend when text messages started hitting his phone in quick succession. By the time he checked, he found a long list of debit alerts. His entire savings had gone.

He said: “I was troubled and kept wondering what could be going on. My phone was not stolen and my ATM card was also with me. So, how could my money have been withdrawn?

“When I went to the bank to complain, they asked if I transacted business with anybody, and I said no. They asked if I gave my ATM card to anyone and I also responded in the negative.

“They did some search and told me they found that the money was withdrawn in Maryland. When they said so, I thought they were talking about the Maryland in Lagos but they said it was the Maryland in the US!”

Unlike Ayo, who at press time was still battling to recover his money, Bakare said the bank immediately refunded his money.

“I guess they found out it was an internal fraud. So to avoid embarrassing themselves, they refunded the money so that the matter would die naturally.”

But another victim, who identified herself simply as Mummy Rachael, was not as lucky.

She said: “I had gone to Lagos Island to buy goods and make payments, so I went to an ATM point to withdraw money, after which I left for my house.

“Later that night, I started receiving debit alerts on my phone. Goose pimples enveloped my whole body immediately. I reported but nothing came out of it.”

ICT experts said she could have been a victim of an ATM machine that had been compromised.

Yet another victim, Abel, suffered a similar fate after he lost his ATM card but ignorantly did not block or retrieve it.

He said: “I did not see any need to block it because there was no money in the account.

“Unfortunately, I asked someone to send money to me, not knowing that some fraudsters had taken possession of the card.

“Shortly after the money was sent to me and I got an alert, I started receiving debit alerts. They cleared the whole money.

“It was after that ugly experience that I blocked the ATM card.”

Of course, Abel’s loss could be Checks with security and banking experts revealed that Ayo’s experience was one in the long list of ATM cards cloned and used to steal money from the accounts of innocent bank customers. According to ICT experts, most of such crimes are done with the connivance of bank officials.