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 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.
