ATM Fraud: Are Nigerian banks helpless?
NaijaRock
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Posted by Felix Okoli on May 09, 2010 at 11:29:55:
I have been itching to write this blog post for sometime now but time I said,"Why waste my time?". I have already wasted a lot of time writing complaints at branch offices of two of my Nigerian banks without any good. The thing is that, if you have ever been a victim of ATM fraud, whether by the thieving machines or human ATM card thieves, you will be given an ATM complaint form when you complain at your bank. I don't know who advised them to be doing such - Give them a complaint form to cool their temper. Was that from a Psychiatrist? Maybe it works for sometime to cool you anger because you may have just lost up to N100,000 form an illegal ATM withdrawal but it was not you. You get to you bank and fill the ATM complaint form and they tell you it will be resolved soon. Two weeks and still counting, yet there is no refund of money that was wrongly debited to my bank account.
You now think, should I return to the bank to make that complaint or should I just forget it cos time is money. If you return to the bank and yet there is no positive feedback, you become even angrier than the last time.
Why do Nigerian banks seem to be helpless to victims of ATM fraud?
There are times when;
- You withdraw once with your ATM card but you are debited twice
-You are not able to withdraw from the machine but still debited
- You are not able to use a first card to withdraw but when you use an alternative, they both get debited
- You call your bank to freeze illegal withdrawals from your ATM card but after 3 or more days, they still do not freeze it
- You go to you bank to complain about ATM problems but they attend to other customers rather than you
- Then there is issue of Old people's bank where majority of the staff is old and slow and the customer care person may not even be available or that day
There are too many complaints Nigerians have made to their banks concerning wrongful deductions to their bank account and I don't see why traditional banking should not return back as a lot of people would not to be using ATM cards again and would prefer calling at their bank for personal withdrawals. I don't see any reason why banks have brought up this idea of charging people for withdrawals if they are withdrawing below N20,000 or so.
Although some Nigerian banks have brought up what looked like solutions to the ATM problem such as introducing the Verve card for better security and preventing cloned cards, use of cameras at ATMs, introducing other services for making payments rather than with cash like Electric bills, Mobile phone recharge or Topup, online payment platforms and so on, the ugly monster of ATM fraud still keeps on fighting back as hackers have devised a way of collecting personal details of bank customers and using it to transfer money away from their bank using online banking and/or payment facilities through the use of the internet which is now getting mobile.
Nigerian banks need to wake up and allow people the option of using ATM cards or personal withdrawals without charging them for doing so or I feel, very soon, people would prefer keeping most of their money at home for better assurance.
Comments:
I have been itching to write this blog post for sometime now but time I said,"Why waste my time?". I have already wasted a lot of time writing complaints at branch offices of two of my Nigerian banks without any good. The thing is that, if you have ever been a victim of ATM fraud, whether by the thieving machines or human ATM card thieves, you will be given an ATM complaint form when you complain at your bank. I don't know who advised them to be doing such - Give them a complaint form to cool their temper. Was that from a Psychiatrist? Maybe it works for sometime to cool you anger because you may have just lost up to N100,000 form an illegal ATM withdrawal but it was not you. You get to you bank and fill the ATM complaint form and they tell you it will be resolved soon. Two weeks and still counting, yet there is no refund of money that was wrongly debited to my bank account.
You now think, should I return to the bank to make that complaint or should I just forget it cos time is money. If you return to the bank and yet there is no positive feedback, you become even angrier than the last time.
Why do Nigerian banks seem to be helpless to victims of ATM fraud?
There are times when;
- You withdraw once with your ATM card but you are debited twice
-You are not able to withdraw from the machine but still debited
- You are not able to use a first card to withdraw but when you use an alternative, they both get debited
- You call your bank to freeze illegal withdrawals from your ATM card but after 3 or more days, they still do not freeze it
- You go to you bank to complain about ATM problems but they attend to other customers rather than you
- Then there is issue of Old people's bank where majority of the staff is old and slow and the customer care person may not even be available or that day
There are too many complaints Nigerians have made to their banks concerning wrongful deductions to their bank account and I don't see why traditional banking should not return back as a lot of people would not to be using ATM cards again and would prefer calling at their bank for personal withdrawals. I don't see any reason why banks have brought up this idea of charging people for withdrawals if they are withdrawing below N20,000 or so.
Although some Nigerian banks have brought up what looked like solutions to the ATM problem such as introducing the Verve card for better security and preventing cloned cards, use of cameras at ATMs, introducing other services for making payments rather than with cash like Electric bills, Mobile phone recharge or Topup, online payment platforms and so on, the ugly monster of ATM fraud still keeps on fighting back as hackers have devised a way of collecting personal details of bank customers and using it to transfer money away from their bank using online banking and/or payment facilities through the use of the internet which is now getting mobile.
Nigerian banks need to wake up and allow people the option of using ATM cards or personal withdrawals without charging them for doing so or I feel, very soon, people would prefer keeping most of their money at home for better assurance.
Comments: