The Federal Capital Territory Police Command has arrested four filling station attendants and their manager for allegedly conniving with suspected fraudsters who stole an Automated Teller Machine card belonging to one Alhaji Usman Ahmadu and withdrew N950,000 from his account.
The suspected fraudsters are Ernest Mensah, 23, a Ghanaian, who claimed to have been born in Anambra State; Obiuwevbi Ogheneovo, 23; and Urunmatsoma Hendrix, 21.
They explained that they swapped Ahmadu’s card with a fake card when he approached Mensah for assistance at an ATM point in Gwarimpa, Abuja, on March 29.
Parading the suspects and others for various crimes at the FCT Police Command on Tuesday, the Commissioner of Police, Bala Ciroma, said,
“The suspects, who admitted to the crime, stated that on that fateful day, the victim, who went to withdraw money at the ATM was finding it difficult to do so.
“He then asked them for assistance and in the process, they swapped his card with their own fake card. On how they got his PIN, they said the gang leader stood directly behind the victim and since the card was fake, he had to enter the pin several times.
“They then moved to the filling station on the Kubwa Expressway, where they have an accomplice by name Henry, who used POS to transfer the money into their account and remitted cash equivalent to the company.
Mensah told journalists that he swapped Ahmadu’s ATM card with the fake one, adding that he enlisted the support of one of the filling station attendants to withdraw money through the station’s POS.
“She transferred the N950,000 from the account to NNPC’s account and gave me cash. I tipped her N5,000 for assisting me,” he said, adding that he had similarly stolen three ATM cards belonging to unsuspecting bank customers.
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
