Hackers hit ATMs in Lagos, device means to collect pins & ATM card data
ATMs located in highbrow areas in Lagos particularly
in Victoria Island and Lekki, might have been compromised following
reports of hackers planting fraud devices on some machines so as to get
the pin codes and other details of the ATM cards of unsuspecting
users and use them to carry out fraudulent activities.
A banker who spoke with
Punch said "A number of the ATMs in Victoria Island
and Lekki axis have been compromised by hackers. Some of these
fraudsters visit those ATMs very late in the night or very early in the
morning to fix some fraud devices on them, which are capable of
collecting cardholders’ information, including their passwords. They come back later to remove those
devices.
The information collected is then used to commit fraud against
those customers later. Most of us (banks) are aware of the
development and we are very vigilant now. What some of us have done is
to get a patrol team of security men to start combing the affected areas
and the ATMs from time to time. We will get those guys soon.” the anonymous banker said
Also
confirming the report, the Vice-Chairman, Committee of e-Banking
Industry Heads, Mr. Dele Adeyinka said banks have recently installed
anti-skimming devices on their ATMs so as to checkmate such illicit
activities.
“Yes, it is true that hackers
are carrying out those activities. It is not only in Victoria Island
axis, they are doing it everywhere. But all the banks have complied with
the CBN directive on anti-fraud tools. So, it will be difficult for
those fraud devices to work.”he said
While some of the cardholders’ information collected by the fraudsters
were being used to commit online-related frauds locally, a large number
was used to clone ATM cards and used to shop in malls abroad, especially
in the US.
As a
way to checkmate the activities of these fraudsters, the Central Bank of
Nigeria in January this year issued a directive to all Nigerian banks
to prevent payment cards (debit and credit) issued by them from working
in
fraud-prone countries, including the US, South Africa and China and that
they would be liable for any fraudulent transaction carried out in
those countries using a customers cloned ATM card. The CBN in another
circular released on
February 1, 2015, instructed all Nigerian banks to stop the payment/ATM
cards from working in non-Europay, MasterCard and Visa countries. The
circular stated that ATM cards that would work in designated countries
must be activated only during the period the customer would be spending
outside Nigeria.
The circular which was signed by the Director,
Banking and Payment System, CBN, Mr. Dipo Fatokun, reads in part, “The
occurrence of card present frauds in non-EMV environments is on the
increase, especially when international hybrid cards issued by Nigerian
banks are used in non-EMV environments like the USA. It has, therefore, become necessary for
the CBN to issue the following directives and that all DMBs should do
the following: collate all their card frauds abroad and send to the CBN
not later than January 30, 2015; subsequently, all data on card frauds
occurring abroad should be rendered on the NIBSS fraud portal; implement
anti-fraud solution on their card management systems not later than
January 30, 2015; ensure that from February 1, 2015, only customers that
expressly indicated the intention of travelling to non-EMV
jurisdictions would have their cards default to the magnetic stripe and
for the period indicated by the cardholder only.”
