EFCC Release More Pictures Of Female ATM Thief Who Disguised Herself And Stole N3m (picture)

The anti-graft agency said, “The Ibadan zonal office of
the EFCC is on the trail of a suspected ATM fraudster,
who goes by the name Akinade Tofunmi. Her trade in
stock is identity theft. Her duty post is any ATM point
and Point of Sales (POS) machines across the
country.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has

launched a nationwide manhunt for a woman believed

to be in her 20s, Tofunmi Akinade, who is alleged to

be a serial Automated Teller Machine fraudster and

identity thief.

The EFCC said on its official Facebook page that the

suspect recently stole the ATM card of a woman and

stole over N1m from the account.

The commission said Akinade’s modus operandi was

to stand near ATMs under the guise of helping old or

physically-challenged people to withdraw money only

for her to swap their ATM cards and convert them to

her own use.

The anti-graft agency said the suspect “does not work

during the official hours of the week”, adding that she

operated late in the night when all bank transactions

had closed and preferably at weekends when her

prospective victims might not be able to alert the

banks to their missing ATM cards.

 “In her last operation, within 24 hours, this fraudster

who operates with the identity of her victims

succeeded in racking in about N3m.

“On Friday, June 3, 2016, at about the close of work, a

woman, identified simply as Alhaja and her husband,

who was waiting in the car, wanted to use an ATM

somewhere in Ibadan, Oyo State, when Tofunmi

noticed that the woman limped.

“Pretending to be polite and cultured, she offered to

assist her with the transaction on the ATM. Unaware

of the intention behind the pious approach, she gave

the fraudster her ATM card and divulged her PIN.

“Smartly, the fraudster quickly checked the balance in

the account which had N1, 749, 026.07. After the

intended withdrawal of N20,000, the fraudster

swapped the card and gave Alhaja a fake ATM card.

Oblivious of the swap, she left with her husband.”

The EFCC said before midnight, the fraudster started

withdrawing money from her victim’s account.

It alleged that she withdrew N130,000 and having

exceeded the daily withdrawal limit for that day, she

waited for a few minutes into the following day which

was a Saturday and withdrew another N150,000.

It added that in a desperate attempt to empty the

balance in the account, the suspect went to a night

club where she met a motorcycle rider, popularly

called okada rider, whom she approached for help.

The EFCC added, “She told the okada rider that she

had enough money in her account, but could not

access it having exceeded her daily withdrawal limit.

She showed the okada man her balance and pleaded

with him to give her his ATM card, account details

and PIN for a quick teller transfer from her (Alhaja’s)

account to the okada man’s account.

“With that, she was able to transfer some of Alhaja’s

money in the okada man’s account, thereby stealing

the identity of the unsuspecting okada man.”

The commission said in the early hours of that

Saturday, she asked the okada man to take her to a

hotel with an intention to further steal the identity of

the hotel for another movement of the money.

It added, “At the hotel reception while paying for her

accommodation which was N10,000 for one night,

she deliberately credited the hotel’s account with

N101,000 feigning a mistake and demanded a refund

of N91,000 balance of an overpayment. This was also

done with Alhaja’s ATM card through the POS

machine at the hotel.

“To further conceal her identity, she provided fake

personal details in the hotel and gave the hotel the

okada man’s account detail when the hotel

management requested an account to deposit the

refund.”

The EFCC said the suspect left the hotel and fled to

Ilorin, Kwara State, with Alhaja’s ATM cards.

It said the okada rider had since been arrested and

was helping detectives with investigation.