Interswitch Nigeria & member banks move against ATM fraudsters
Long after several people have been defrauded of their money through social engineering scams, Interswitch Nigeria the leading issuer of local ATM/Debit cards appears to be acting now. According to a recent report by Daily Trust:
Interswitch Nigeria Limited in collaboration with banks last week inaugurated an awareness campaign to protect ATM card holders against fraudsters and to educate them on the payment card in the country.
In the last few months there have been various messages requesting cardholders to register their debit, credit or cash card details under the guise of participating in non-existent promotions or with the promise of winning bogus prizes.
[...]
But inaugurating the cardholders’ awareness campaign in Lagos, the Managing Director of Interswitch, Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, explained that the main objective of the campaign scheduled to run on radio, newspapers, magazines and billboards is to protect card holders from fraudsters, who temper with ATM cards’ PINs in order to have access to cardholders banks’ accounts.
According to Mr. Elegbe, the joint campaign between Interswitch and participating banks, has been designed to also create awareness on card usage without generating unnecessary panic in the minds of cardholders and to also enlighten them of channels on which their cards can be used other than just cash withdrawals at ATMs.
I had blogged about such scams here and here in the past.
Well, I’d say better late than never. It beats me that the banks did not include a short manual with every ATM card they issued before now, warning customers about the possibility of fraudsters tricking them into giving up their ATM PIN codes and how to guard against such.
Jul 4th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
It is painful that they waited this long before taking necessary step to ensure that their customers are not robbed of hard earned money. I have really been skeptical of using the card even though I carry it about in my purse simply because I have heard numerous unpleasant stories from friends.
Jul 7th, 2008 at 9:55 am
At last there “appears” to be proactive action towards ridding our country of these so called ATM thieves. I emphasize appears because simlar statements have only be drowned by inactivity and non chalance .
Maybe there should be an ATM bill of rights that states emphatically what every ATM user is entitled to vis a vis security while withdrawing money These Rights should be pasted by the side of every ATM. I have often found it repulsive to see people standing in cue to use the ATM, i mean directly behind the current user…. security breach . On no account should that happen. That lack of manners is petty compared to what i experienced very recently , I got an SMS 2 months ago, saying i had won #400,000 in a promo organized by a mobile carrier {Not mentioned ) . The senders of the fraudulent sms advised me to go to my ATM to wait while they paid in the money to my account, maybe they thought they had some form of hypnosis over me that would render me naive to their strategem , well i must have really disappointed them .Despite my ability to escape that potential bankruptcy, others havent and there is perhaps an unending myriad of woes to narrate. The interesting thing here is that the sms carried the logo of the mobile carrier { ingenuity laced with fraud}. I pray that this current effort to curb this vice is not lip service to a canker worm that is an offspring of bigger menace .
Jul 7th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I want to say that each person using ATM should stand along thank you
Aug 8th, 2008 at 1:25 am
Iam not surprise hearing about the ATM scandal. What am surprise at is the money the companies involved are spending on the awareness campaign. I suggest that they use it to sponsor sites that are teaching young Africans on how to make genuine money online or offline. Nigerians are creative, they only need intelligent professional business consultants. Who will help discover and direct their talents in the right direction. That’s what we need. Or else THEIR awareness campaign can’t HELP!
Aug 11th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
[...] had a similar experience in Ibadan in March when no Interswitch ATM would process my GTB-issued ATM card. Obviously, GTB’s network was down and so my card could [...]
Aug 17th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
At last there “appears” to be proactive action towards ridding our country of these so called ATM thieves. I emphasize appears because similar statements have only be drowned by inactivity and nonchalance.
Maybe there should be an ATM bill of rights that states emphatically what every ATM user is entitled to vis a vis security while withdrawing money These Rights should be pasted by the side of every ATM. I have often found it repulsive to see people standing in queue to use the ATM, i mean directly behind the current user…. security breach . On no account should that happen. That lack of manners is petty compared to what i experienced very recently , I got an SMS 2 months ago, saying i had won #400,000 in a promo organized by a mobile carrier {Not mentioned} . The senders of the fraudulent sms advised me to go to my ATM to wait while they paid in the money to my account, maybe they thought they had some form of hypnosis over me that would render me naive to their strategem , well i must have really disappointed them. Despite my ability to escape that potential bankruptcy, others haven’t and there is perhaps an unending myriad of woes to narrate. The interesting thing here is that the sms carried the logo of the mobile carrier {ingenuity laced with fraud}. I pray that this current effort to curb this vice is not lip service to a canker worm that is an offspring of bigger menace .