Fraudster found with nine ATM cards stolen from bank customers through ‘swapping’

A young man who belonged to a fraud syndicate that used to steal bank customers Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards through what is called swapping has been arrested by operatives of the Enugu State Police Command and nine ATM stolen cards recovered from him, the command announced on Saturday, April 24.

The young man, whose name was given as Chukwudi Chukwu, aged 25, was said to have been arrested by operatives attached to New Haven Police Division after they received a distress call when the young man was about to be lynched by an angry mob.

It was gathered that the syndicate which the man belonged to used to swap bank customers ATM cards by offering to assist them to process their transaction on the machines and they will eventually swap the cards with the empty ones in their possession without the knowledge of the customers.

They will threafter use the ATM cards to empty the accounts of the customers through the machines of other branches of the bank and sometimes at the ATM points of other banks.

Luck was said to have run out of Chukwu when he was discovered to have swapped a woman’s ATM card belonging to a foremost bank (name withheld) after offering to assist the woman in processing her transaction on the bank’s ATM with the intention of defrauding her.

The woman was said to have raised the alarm after discovering the act and the alarm she raised made a mob to gather and beat him blue black before he was rescued from being lynched by policemen following the distress call by a citizen. Other members of the gang were said to have fled, abandoning a tricycle which they brought.

According to a statement by the state police command through its Public Relations Officer, Daniel Ndukwe, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), on the website of the command, during his interrogation, he was said to have confessed to the crime as well as being a member of the syndicate that specialised in swapping ATM cards with non-functional cards.

According to the statement: “Police operatives attached to New Haven Police Division of Enugu State Command have arrested one Chukwudi Chukwu, aged 25 years, at Chime Avenue, Enugu.

“His arrest led to the recovery of a tricycle with registration number: ENU 677 WW he and his gang members used for operation and nine ATM cards of different banks were found on him.

The man, whose arrest was due to a swift response to a distress call from a citizen and his rescue from an angry mob by the operatives, was said to have swapped a woman’s ATM card after offering to assist her in carrying out transaction on the bank’s ATM, with the intention of defrauding her.

“During interrogation, he confessed to the crime as well as being a member of the syndicate that specialised in swapping ATM cards of their victims at banks’ ATMs with non-functional cards, which they used to fraudulently obtain funds from their accounts.

“Meanwhile, intense discreet investigation is ongoing to arrest other members of the syndicate, including those who escaped and abandoned the tricycle on the said day, while the man will be prosecuted as soon as investigations are completed.”