Fraudster arrested with 31 ATM cards in Bauchi State
The Bauchi State Police Command has arrested a 44-year-old suspect, Michael Joseph, for attempted fraud and recovered 31 Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards from different banks in his possession.
Spokesperson of the command, SP Ahmed Mohammed Wakil, who disclosed this in a statement on Monday, December 5, 2022, said that Joseph, of Gada Biyu, Jos Plateau State, was arrested by detectives attached to the B’ Divisional Police headquarters.
According to the PPRO, the suspect specialises in defrauding people by swapping their ATM cards and withdrawing money from their accounts.
“Reports available at the Command’s disposal indicated that on November 30 2022 at about 1320hrs that on the same date at about 1054hrs Salome Aliyude’ f’ of Yandoka Barracks, Bauchi went to the first bank main branch situated along Banks Road for a transaction,” the statement read.
“While at the ATM queue, the suspect insisted on knowing the type of ATM card she used for the transaction. In this manner, she was uncomfortable with his curiosity and quickly reported him to the bank securities.
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“Following this development, an investigation was instituted where the suspect found in his possession thirty-one Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards of different banks.
“On interrogation, the suspect revealed he hails from Benue State and came to Plateau state to seek a job. He has been a bus driver for 3yrs in Jos, Plateau State. One Magaji’ m’ of Kano State introduced him to the fraud activity when they met at a beer parlour in Jos, Plateau State.
“It was revealed that the suspect gathered ATM cards from different banks and went to a nearby bank to hunt for a help-seeking person who could not operate an ATM.
“The suspect quickly gets the ATM card pin of his victim when he assisted a non-consenting person with an ATM transaction, where he quickly swaps the victim’s ATM card with an old ATM card from the same bank in his possession.
“Further investigation revealed that the suspect had successfully defrauded the sum of eighteen thousand naira (N18, 000.00) of his first victim at Access Bank Plc, while the second victim defrauded twenty-five (N25, 000.00) at Micro Finance Bank, all in Plateau State.
“As the suspect succeeded at two distinct fraudulent activities, he decided to fly to Bauchi State in a bit to further his fraudulent activities but met his waterloo when he attempted to defraud a lady at the First Bank ATM gallery situated at banks road, Bauchi.
The investigation is in progress after which the suspect will be charged in court.”
