A serial ATM thief and fraudster has been arrested by the Delta State Police Command in Ozoro, Isoko North Local Government Area of the state.
In a statement on Tuesday, the command’s spokesperson, DSP Bright Edafe, said the suspect, Ojo Amos, 38, of Agbara-Otor, Ughelli North LGA, specialises in stealing ATM cards from unsuspecting victims.
“On 2/11/2021 at about 1300hrs, upon a tip-off that the suspect was seen in a POS Stand located beside a bank in Ozoro branch, the DPO Ozoro Division detailed operatives who swung into action in conjunction with the chairman Olotu vigilante in Ozoro. They were deployed to the scene and arrested the suspect. 33 ATM cards and a cash sum of Fifty thousand Naira (#50,000) were recovered from him,” DSP Edafe stated.
The suspect admitted to stealing one of the cards from one Rufai Abdulahi at a bank in Kwale and fleeing. He claimed that he afterwards withdrew two hundred and fifty thousand naira (#250,000) from the victim’s bank account.
The statement added that, “preliminary investigations later revealed that the suspect usually stays behind his victims at the ATM machine waiting and targeting people who he feels are not too educated, old women/children and once he notices that they are having problem operating the ATM machine, he moves closer to them pretending to be a bank staff trying to help them and in the process he swaps the ATM card.”
The suspect also admitted to watching them enter their ATM pins, memorizing them, and then using a POS stand or ATM machine to empty their bank accounts after swapping ATM cards. For the past four years, he claims to have been doing this.
While urging members of the public to be law abiding, Delta State Commissioner of Police, CP Ari Muhammed Ali also advised them to learn from the cases regularly reported by the command and to be vigilant when using their ATM cards, ensuring that only uniform bank staff are allowed to assist them when the need arises.
