Police arrest two suspects for ATM card-swapping in Niger

The Niger State Command of the Nigeria Police has arrested two suspected criminals over the allegation of swapping ATM cards, just as 42 ATM cards were recovered from their possession.

This was contained in a Press statement issued and made available to Journalists on Monday in Minna by the Police Public Relations Officer of the State Police Command, SP Wasiu Abiodun, adding that the suspects are identified as one Philip Adefemi,46- year old and Joseph Michael, 42- year old and they were both of Masaka Area of Nasarawa State.

The statement added that on 18/5/2024 at about 13:00 hours, Police operatives attached to A Division Bida arrested the two suspects after an incident of ATM swapping was reported at A Division Bida, highlighting that on the same date at about 10:00hours when a victim was at a branch of a Commercial Bank in Bida to withdraw money, stressing that the victim, an unidentified male inserted his ATM card in the machine but could not dispense cash.

“As a result of this, a person behind the victim at the ATM gallery requested to assist him, and in the process unknown to the victim, his card had been swapped. A few minutes later, he received a debit alert of N400,000.00,” the statement added.

SP Abiodun noted that, “On receipt of the complaint, Police operatives of the Div swung into action and arrested the suspects, while one Bala( other names unknown) escaped arrest.”

It was further learnt that In the course of the preliminary investigation, forty-two ATM cards were recovered from the suspects including that of the victim, and a Mercedes-Benz C230 with Reg. No Abuja KUJ 44 NT.

During interrogation, the suspects allegedly claimed that they were coming from Abuja heading to Offa, Kwara State for burial and they decided to spend the night in Bida, and that in the morning they tried to get some victims’ ATM cards from the gallery.

They were said to have confessed further that most of the cards were expired cards used for swapping, emphasizing that “before using the victims’ cards for withdrawal after observing the password at the ATM machine.”

The PPRO, however, assured that the suspects were under investigation in the division adding that they would be prosecuted as soon as the investigation was concluded.

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