How Banks Unwittingly Aid Scammers

Criminals are said to be taking advantage of the ambiguity of Know Your Customers Policy in banks to hide their loot EFCC operatives in one of their raids in Lagos Unsuspecting members of the public are increasingly falling victims of internet frauds. What worries more, however, is the seeming complicity of banks, which hide the identities of scammers who lodge their loots with them, reports Festus Akanbi Nigerians are indeed their brothers’ keepers. In Nigeria as in most African countries, the tendency to offer a helping hand to family members, associates and friends in critical condition is very high. However, over the years, criminally-minded individuals have continued to take advantage of this demonstration of love and readiness to bail out those in distress to wreak havocs on the finances of unsuspecting members of the public. Quite a number of people, whose mobile phones are stolen have had their cases worsened by criminals who often send distress messages to the contacts on such phones soliciting financial assistance. What they do is to paint a picture of a critical situation, giving the impression that the owners of the mobile phones need urgent assistance. In some instances, friends and relatives of the owner of the phones are asked to send recharge cards. For the more sophisticated criminals, hacking into email accounts of their victims is the order of the day. In some cases, unsuspecting individuals are asked to provide details of their bank accounts through dubious messages using cloned logos of some of the banks. Quite a number of people have fallen victims of this escapade, with their bank accounts thoroughly cleaned out by the fraudsters. However, a common dimension is for the fraudsters to hack into mail accounts of people, which they use to solicit for one financial assistance or another.  Banks’ Complicity The growing difficulty of some banks to disclose the identities of some of their depositors who use banks to collect proceeds of their crimes have raised the suspicion that some bank officials may actually belong to some of the syndicates. Industry watchers who raised the possibility of a possible connivance between bank staff and Internet scammers said given the failure of the financial sector regulators to monitor banks ‘compliance with the Know Your Customers policy, it is possible for banks to shield the criminals from their victims. One recipient of such dubious scamming letters, Jayeola Ojo (not real name), who shared his experience with THISDAY last week, narrated how he engaged the fraudster in discussion through series of emails. The letter sent to Ojo’s email box read: “Good morning, I hope you are doing well. I made an emergency trip to London for medical checkup and unfortunately my niece had a nearly fatal accident yesterday night and needs to undergo surgery, which requires N126, 000 to start the treatment on her. “Please can you lend me some quick funds that I can give back as soon as I get in on Friday, as I can’t access my account at the moment. Sorry for the inconvenience but I heard she is in a very bad condition and needs medical attention as fast as possible. “I can forward you details on how to get the funds to her. You can only reach me via my email for now. I await your quick response.... The account details are: Dr. Okere Owen. C- 0053490551-. Access Bank Plc. Regards. From: Rasheed Ayeni