- Victim’s account can be emptied with the 16 digits number
Coming on the backdrop of rising claims by different individuals that cyber criminals had withdrawn money from their accounts without their ATM cards, indications were rife at the weekend that cyber thieves, know at the local parlance as ‘Yahoo Boys’ have taken their criminal enterprise a notch higher by now hacking into the account numbers of online shoppers to use their accounts to shop. All the account owner will be getting is alerts
Most of the banks spoken confirmed the development has gotten to an alarming state, saying the target of the cyber thieves is mainly online shoppers.
The lenders who spoke on condition of anonymity insisted that the criminal innovation is not due any failure in the security chips measures built into the ATM cards, pointed accusing the online shopping companies of culpability in the crime. “The crime is not possible without an insider collaboration in the online shopping firms,” they alleged.
The lenders further disclosed that the victims in the course of interactions between him/her and the online shopping outfits, give out information which at the initial stage would look harmless. Such information is what is used to hack into their account, they said.
According to them, the fraudsters would send a four digit number purportedly from the online shopping firm to the victim, asking him or her to confirm whether the number is his/hers, “once it is confirmed, the fraudsters have a way of using that to get the victim’s pin number.”
Meanwhile, in a post on his Facebook wall, the Head Corporate Communication, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Femi Babafemi said: “Our ATM cards are no longer as safe as our banks would want us to believe. Criminals can now draw money from your accounts, yes, even from ATM machines without knowing your secret 4-digit pin number. All they need now is the 16-digit number boldly printed on the cover of your card and the 3-digit open pin at the back. This means it’s not enough to keep a 4-digit secret pin as the banks will make us believe. I have a case I’m dealing with at the moment. So, this is a first hand alert. You either keep your cards totally away from any other contact or you cut off the 16-digit printed on them so that nobody can copy them. Without that portion, the card will still work.”
Our investigation further revealed that this fraud has been on for a long time unknown to the general public. Ololade Bashirat, a victim of this crime said it happened to her once so since then she decided not to own an ATM card.
She said, “This problem has been going on for a while now and people are not doing anything about it. I experienced this thing once and am not praying to experience it again, hence I decided not to own an ATM card, I woke up one morning and received an alert that I have withdrawn N250,000, I was confused because I knew I didn’t withdraw that much the last time I went to the ATM machine so I immediately went to the bank and I was told that someone transferred the money to his/her account; honestly I did all I could do but here I am and definitely not with the money, so it happens and I just don’t understand why they insist that we should never tell anyone our pin when they can get access to our money”.
Also, a source said stealing money from people’s account without the ATM card is possible using the first four numbers of the 16 digits number at the back of the ATM card or the last four numbers for this transaction.
According to the source, before the fraudsters were using the first seven numbers of the 16 digits number to do the transaction and according to this guy he said it is mostly used to shop online as some shopping sites request for the numbers.
The source further said that the first four numbers, the last four numbers and the three digit number at the back of the ATM card shows certain details of the owner of that particular account, but he said that it is impossible to do this if you have a bank verification number because it also protects your account from being hacked as he said everything is all about hacking.
Reacting to the development, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Office (PPRO), Mr. Chika Oti, said that the Command has not received such complaint from victims.
He said that the Command had at different times arrested and prosecuted several suspects involved in cyber crime in the state.
He said: “The Lagos State Police Commissioner, Imohimi Edgal had at different times while parading the suspects warned Lagos residents to be wary how loose they are with their phones, laptops or their ATM cards. The CP warned that the cyber criminal when they get the account owners details, ATM card details, or get hold the ATM card proper, they us it to either shop online or empty the victim bank account,” he said.
