Police arrest two suspects for ATM card swapping in Niger state, recover 42 cards

Operatives of the Niger State Police Command have arrested two suspects for ATM card swapping and recovered 42 cards in Bida.

A spokesperson for the command, SP Wasiu Abiodun, who disclosed this in a statement on Monday, May 20, 2024, said the suspects confessed that most of the cards found in their possession were expired.

According to the suspects, they pretend to assist customers at ATM points during which they swap the victims’ cards with the expired ones before withdrawing money from their bank accounts. 

“On 18/5/2024 at about 1300hrs, Police operatives attached to A Div Bida arrested two suspects, namely; -Philip Adefemi 46yrs and Joseph Micheal 42yrs, both of Masaka area of Nasarawa State,” the statement read.

“An incident of ATM card swapping was reported at A Div Bida, that on the same date at about 1000hrs, a victim was at a commercial bank in Bida to withdraw money, and he 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 that his card had been swapped. A few minutes later, he received a debit alert of #400,000

“On receipt of the complaint, Police operatives of the Div swung into action and arrested the suspects, while one Bala escaped. 

“In the course of 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 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 confessed further that most of the cards were expired cards used for swapping, before using the victims’ cards for withdrawal after observing the password at the ATM machine. 

“The suspects are under investigation in the Division and they will be prosecuted as soon as the investigation is concluded.”