By Izunna Okafor, Awka
Police operatives in Anambra state have launched an investigation into the alleged criminal act of a lady who swapped an ATM card of an old woman and emptied her account.
247UREPORTS earlier reported that a criminally-minded lady was captured by a CCTV camera in Anambra State as she swapped an ATM card of an old woman having sight problem and emptied everything in her account within few minutes.
The incident happened over the weekend at an ATM spot in Nnewi, Nnewi North Local Government Area of the State, where the old woman, who is also a widow, was said to have gone to withdraw some money.
According to a source, the old woman, whose name is yet to be ascertained, was having problem operating the machine when it was her turn to withdraw, because of her eye problem that resulted in her poor sight.
The source, however, narrated that a lady who was standing by and presumably waiting for her own turn to withdraw, offered to help the widow to operate the ATM when she noticed she was having difficulty operating it, due to her sight defect.
It was gathered that, in the process, however, she swapped the widow’s ATM card with another fake and expired ATM card after having known her PIN; and then, she smartly left the scene while the old woman was still struggling to operate the fake ATM with her PIN, only for her to start receiving recurring debit alerts on her phone shortly after the lady left.
This was corroborated by a 42-second video of the incident as was captured by the CCTV camera of the bank, and which is currently trending on the social media.
“This widow who was said to be having eye problem went to UBA bank ATM machine in Nnewi to withdraw money. When it got difficult for her operating the machine, this young lady putting on red top and black trouser approached her to help out, but ended up swapping her ATM card.
“Just few minutes later, the woman started receiving debit alerts,” another source narrated, with respect to the video.
However, reacting to the video through a statement issued to newsmen on Thursday, the Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, announced that the Command had begun an investigation into the case.
While noting that the Command has established a direct contact with the victim, who said the sum of two million naira was withdrawn from her account by the suspect; the Police Spokesman further called on anyone with useful information, especially residents of Nnewi and environs, to help in identifying the suspect for possible arrest and prosecution.
“The Anambra State Police Command has intercepted a trending video of an unidentified lady in an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) of a Commercial bank in Nnewi, who allegedly swapped an ATM Card belonging to a 58 years old (quinquagenarian) handicapped woman and withdrew the sum of Two Million Naira (N2,000,000) in parts.
“The Command having commenced investigations into the incident, calls on anyone with useful information, especially residents of Nnewi and environs to help in identifying the suspect for possible arrest and prosecution.
“Preliminary information reveals that the unidentified lady suspect disguised herself to assist the victim and swapped the ATM card of the victim and a few minutes after the suspect left the ATM spot, the quinquagenarian received several debit alerts totaling the sum of Two Million Naira (N2,000,000).
“The Commissioner of Police, CP Nnaghe Obono Itam, concerned about the incident directs the Public Relations Officer of the Command to contact the victim for necessary information that will aid the investigation. He further directed that all intelligent gathering tools of the Command should be deployed to identify the suspect and bring her criminal gang to book.”
Watch the video below:
