27-Year-Old Man Breaks Into ATM, Steals N6.8 Million

A man single-handedly broke into a bank Cash machine what we call ATM machine and stole the sum of N6.8million from the Cash machine of a bank at Jabi District, On Sunday.

DSP Altine Daniel, the command’s spokesperson, who disclosed this on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said that a suspect had been arrested in connection with the theft.

He said that the 27-year-old suspect (name withheld), allegedly broke into the ATM belonging to one of the old generation banks and stole the money.

Daniel, however, said that the amount that was stolen was recovered “intact” from the suspect after he was arrested in the premises of the bank.

“On Sept. 21, at about 10 a.m., some staff of the bank came to report at our office at Utako that their ATM had problem.

“When our men moved to the scene and started looking for clues and anything that will assist them in their investigation, they noticed that the CCTV monitor room had been tampered with.

“After a thorough search, they also noticed that the door of the toilet in the room was locked from within and when they opened it, they found somebody seated.

“The suspect was picked up and taken to the station where he confessed to the crime,” she said.

Daniel said the suspect claimed to have learned the act of opening safe from video sharing site “youtube” and thereafter, bought some tools, including screw driver and pliers, to carry out the act.

She alleged that the suspect removed N6.87 million from the ATM and packed them in bags before his arrest.

“Investigations into the case has started and we are trying to find out if he acted alone or he has some accomplices,” she said.

(NAN)

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Some ATMs Dispense Fake Naira Notes (Read and be smart)

Personal experience shared by Mrs Omoye, a lecturer with Lagos state University, OJoo.

Omoye who narrated her experience to THISDAY said,

 “Who would have thought that banks will be involved in dirty deals of issuing customers with fake naira notes? Yes, I was issued one at the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) of Guaranty Trust Bank branch located at 74/76 Ojuelegba –Yaba road, Ojuelegba, Lagos.

“At exactly 12. 23 pm, on July 29, 2013 I used the ATM of GTB to withdraw some amount of money with my bank’s ATM card and immediately went into the banking hall to make deposit into my friend’s GTB account. On getting to the bulk room to make the deposit, behold, the cashier raised an alarm that there was a fake note in the money I brought for deposit.  If not for the fact that I stood my ground that the money was withdrawn from the bank’s ATM and with the SMS alert as proof that the money was withdrawn from their ATM, she would have gotten me arrested by the police. “However, a final verification was carried out by one of the staff in the branch to check my ATM card on the computer system and after so much stress and interrogation, the bank replaced the fake naira note with an original one.

Mr. Pascal, the Brand Management, Communication and External Affairs of the bank, exonerated the bank from blame.

Faulting the theory of connivance of bank staff with fake currency syndicate, the bank’s spokesperson said, “We have completed our investigations and are pleased to inform you that there is no evidence of staff connivance to substitute genuine notes with fake ones in our ATM machines.”

To buttress his point, he explained further, “Our ATMs are funded with cash received from customers, from other banks and from the CBN. To ensure the genuiness of currencies paid out we have stringent measures in place to spot fake notes.”

He disclosed that at the point of receipt, cash deposit by customers are screened under UV light to pick out fake ones; fake notes detected are seized from the customer and immediately perforated and that new employees are mandated to understudy this process for a period of time before assumption of full duty.

He added that cash passes through sensors and fake notes are rejected and that cash are processed through UV light before movement to vault.

According to him, before loading to ATMs, cash (received in-house and externally sourced) is passed through a cash sorter, noting that the sorters currently in use (Manger 350 & Glory 500) are equipped to throw out suspicious (fake and ATM-unfit) notes. The suspicious notes are further screened under UV light to detect fake notes, which are then destroyed

“I can assure you that these processes are being further re-enforced now to guarantee the integrity of notes received by our customers and spot checks at cash handling points by senior officers have been introduced to ensure full procedural compliance. Additionally, we shall continue to strengthen our processes to ensure that the integrity of the notes dispensed from our system are not compromised.

“We take all customer suggestions very seriously, and shall continue to take the benefit of constructive suggestions to ensure that our excellent standards are maintained”.

In the midst of the damning indictment of banks for the payment of fake naira rotes, the apex bank said it is an operational issue, which is supposed to be handled by money deposit banks.

The CBN Governor, Malllam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who spoke at the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting said “fake naira notes in ATM is an operational issue, the banks are supposed to process the currency before they put it in the machines.”

“If they are processed, their machines are supposed to identify fake notes. So, if you find a fake note in an ATM, it means that somebody in the commercial bank did not do what he is supposed to do. There is also the possibility that the censors of the ATM that receives and pays are not working.’’ 

Source: Thisday

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Finally: N100 ATM Service Charge Gets Dec. 17th Termination Date

Following the outcome of the Bankers Committee meeting where it was agreed that N100 ATM service charge would be stopped, the Central Bank of Nigeria has announced that starting from next week Monday, December 17, 2012, customers of deposit money banks will no longer pay N100 on withdrawals from Automated Teller Machines whenever they use banks other than theirs.

Mr. Lamido Sanusi, the governor of the CBN, gave the good news on Sunday at the fourth Annual Retreat of the Bankers Committee in Calabar. He said that the  bank would begin the effective implementation of the removal of bank charges associated with the use of other banks’ ATMs by customers from next Monday.

In his words, “We have agreed on a final date of Monday 17, December, 2012 for the kick-off, when every bank will remove the charges. We allowed some time for banks that have not configured their IT to do so and stop charging, and hopefully by 17th of December, you are not going to have any customer pay additional charges.”

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Nigerian banks stop N100 charge at ATM

 Nigeria’s Banker’s Committee on Tuesday in Abuja unanimously agreed to stop interbank ATM charge of N100, about 65 cents

Briefing journalists at the end of their meeting in Abuja, the Managing Director of First Bank, Mr Bisi Onasanya, said the decision was in line with “popular trends’’ in other parts of the world.

“Presently when you use the ATM of a bank other than your bank, there is a charge of N100 which is borne by the account holder.We have decided that we will work out the modality and ensure that with immediate effect we would pass on this cost to the respective banks which bear the cost of providing services.

“No matter where you are withdrawing your money from, you will not be subjected to any charge for using the ATM.According to him, the new policy does not cover withdrawals inside the banking hall when the ATMs are not working.“But for transaction on what we call “not on us’’, when you are an FBN customer and you use the ATM of a GTB bank, it is free and it will no longer bear any cost.’’

Mrs Agnes Olatokunbo, Director of Banking Services at the Central Bank, said the apex bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would conduct a joint examination of stockbroking firms to ensure financial stability.Presently, the CBN supervises the bank but in the interest of financial stability, we will be working jointly with SEC to supervise stockbroking firms, especially those owned by holding companies under the new banking reforms.’’

Also speaking, the Group Managing Director of Union Bank, Mr Emeka Enuwa, said the banks had also decided to support mortgage liquidity facility for civil servants and private sector employees.

Enuwa expressed the committee’s support for the Federal Government’s ongoing efforts to provide more affordable housing to civil servants and the middle class.The cost of acquiring a house for an individual, as a civil servant, is quite difficult and getting a mortgage over a long period of time had not been that easy.

“What this programme intends to achieve is to make it much easier for civil servants and private sector employees to assess financing to acquire homes for themselves at an acceptable duration and reasonable interest rate.’’Speaking on the modalities for assessing the credit facility, Enuwa said the details would be provided subsequently as the framework had just been agreed on.

On other decisions reached at the meeting, Dr Shehu Mohammed, acting Managing Director of Keystone Bank, said the committee also agreed to make “significant donation’’ to flood victims across the country.

Mohammed said the meeting considered the issue of the recent flood in the country and decided that respective banks should make donations through the Federal Government fund-raising committee headed by Alhaji Aliko Dangote.

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