Hackers, Electronic Fraudsters Storm S'West Lagos, Target Bank ATMs
Hackers, Electronic Fraudsters Storm S'West Lagos, Target Bank ATMs
Hackers, Electronic Fraudsters Storm S'West Lagos, Target Bank ATMs |
large number of Automated Teller
Machines located in some posh areas of Lagos like Victoria Island, Lekki
Peninsula Phase I and II, and Ikoyi have been attacked by hackers and
electronic fraudsters, it has been learnt.
The hackers are said to be fixing small fraud tools on the ATMs in
order to harvest the passwords of cardholders who come to collect cash
or do some other transactions on the machines.
Top bank officials privy to the development said a number of banks had
deployed detectives to monitor their ATMs in those locations, especially
in the Victoria Island and Lekki axis.
A banker told our correspondent, “A number of the ATMs in Victoria
Island and Lekki axis have been compromised by hackers. Some of these
fraudsters visit those ATMs very late in the night or very early in the
morning to fix some fraud devices on them, which are capable of
collecting cardholders’ information, including their passwords.
“They come back later to remove those devices. The information
collected is then used to commit fraud against those customers later.
“Most of us (banks) are aware of the development and we are very
vigilant now. What some of us have done is to get a patrol team of
security men to start combing the affected areas and the ATMs from time
to time. We will get those guys soon.”
While some of the cardholders’ information collected by the fraudsters
were being used to commit online-related frauds locally, a large number
was used to clone ATM cards and used to shop in malls abroad, especially
in the United States of America, bankers told our correspondent.
The Vice-Chairman, Committee of e-Banking Industry Heads, Mr. Dele Adeyinka, confirmed the fraudsters’ activities.
He, however, said that following the banks’compliance with the CBN
directive asking them to install anti-skimming devices on their ATMs, it
would be difficult for the fraudters’ devices to work.
He said, “Yes, it is true that hackers are carrying out those
activities. It is not only in Victoria Island axis, they are doing it
everywhere. But all the banks have complied with the CBN directive on
anti-fraud tools. So, it will be difficult for those fraud devices to
work.”
Rising cases of electronic frauds, especially ATM-related scams, which
have made Nigerian banks to lose billions of naira in recent times, have
forced some lenders to prevent their payments cards from working in the
US, China and a few other countries.
According to Central Bank of Nigeria statistics, the banks lost N40bn to electronic frauds in 2013 alone.
On January 19, 2015, the CBN ordered banks in the country to prevent
payment cards (debit and credit) issued by them from working in
fraud-prone countries, including the US, South Africa and China.
The central bank also said that banks would be liable for frauds
committed abroad using cloned cards belonging to their customers.
The CBN said in a circular that from February 1, 2015, all the banks in
the country must stop the payment/ATM cards from working in
non-Europay, MasterCard and Visa countries.
It directed the banks to only activate the cards when customers to whom
the cards had been issued were travelling abroad and this should only
be for the period that the customers would spend overseas.
The circular, signed by the Director, Banking and Payment System, CBN,
Mr. Dipo Fatokun, read in part, “The occurrence of card present frauds
in non-EMV environments is on the increase, especially when
international hybrid cards issued by Nigerian banks are used in non-EMV
environments like the USA.
“It has, therefore, become necessary for the CBN to issue the following
directives and that all DMBs should do the following: collate all their
card frauds abroad and send to the CBN not later than January 30, 2015;
subsequently, all data on card frauds occurring abroad should be
rendered on the NIBSS fraud portal; implement anti-fraud solution on
their card management systems not later than January 30, 2015; ensure
that from February 1, 2015, only customers that expressly indicated the
intention of travelling to non-EMV jurisdictions would have their cards
default to the magnetic stripe and for the period indicated by the
cardholder only.”
Prior to the deactivation of the payment cards from working overseas,
one of the ‘systemically important banks’ made refunds in excess of
N200m in 2014, The PUNCH had reported exclusively.
Electronic fraudsters had been duplicating payment cards belonging to
Nigerian bank customers and using them to buy items worth millions of
dollars from shopping malls in the US.
The development had forced top executives of the banks and senior
officials of the CBN to meet with the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission sometime last year in order to stem the tide.
The Chairman, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Lagos State
Branch, Mr. Abolade Agbola, had emphasised the need for the CBN to
fast-track the biometric registration of bank customers as a way of
checking electronic frauds.
The President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Mr. Chidi
Ajaegbu, said the CBN had achieved a lot in the cashless drive but
there was a need to continue to build public confidence in the
electronic means of payment.
Source: Punch
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