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A heightened wave of electronic fraud known as
‘alert flashing’, otherwise, ‘fake bank alert’ has
become a major source of concern to bank
customers. It involves the use of SMS messages
disguised as a transaction alert from a bank, to
defraud unsuspecting victims.
The Commissioner of Police, Alagbon, Ikoyi,
Lagos, Mr. Damian Okoro, has warned the public
about this menace in a message where he also
narrated how a bank customer fell victims to a
fake bank alert.
He said: “Please this is a true story which
happened just few days ago. My friend advertised
for sale a car and put the price at N2.7 million. A
prospective customer called and was given
direction on how to get where the car was
parked. He observed the car and informed my
friend that he was heading to the bank to make
payment and that she should assemble the
document ready for collection as soon as
payment is made.
“Shortly after that alert came to my friend’s
phone and few minutes after the alert the
customer came and all the paper plus the car
was handed over to him and he left. To my
friend’s greatest shock, she went to the bank and
couldn’t find any money and the bank said that
the alert did not come from them.
“My friend is planning to go to court with her
bank. The advice is that alert is no longer a
confirmation of payment. Please let’s all be
careful when doing transactions especially this
season now in this technology crazy generation”.
Vanguard MoneyDigest investigations revealed
that the menace is not new but has recently been
rampant as more bank customers now fall
victims.
A Facebook user and businesswoman, Sandra
Joseph, also fell victim of fake fraud alert during
the last yuletide season.
She took to Rant HQ, a group on Facebook to
warn innocent Nigerians about the menace.
According to her, three presentable men walked
into her shop and pretended that they wanted to
buy ten Infinix Hot6X phones which cost N48,050
each. They decided to make a cash transfer using
mobile phone because they did not have cash.
The transaction was successful on their phone
but when the sales rep went to the bank to
withdraw the cash, the money did not reflect in
her account, leaving her with a debt burden.
She wrote: “Admin please approve in order not to
let another rant member fall a victim. So I was at
the office today eating when three well-dressed
men walked in, they said they needed 10 pieces of
INFINIX HOT6X and each phone cost N48,050.
“I was overjoyed that my Xmas will be soft. Little
did I know that the devil was laughing at me. I
started writing receipts and when it was time for
payment, I gave them our boss’s Zenith Bank
account to make the transfer since they didn’t
come with cash but the transfer wasn’t
successful, so the sales girl who was banking
with Fidelity Bank gave them her own account
number to run the transfer and an alert entered
indicating that the money has been transferred
successfully.
“I now sent the girl to withdraw the money as the
customers left but lo and behold the money didn’t
reflect on the girl’s account and that was how I
was duped N482,500 today which means the alert
was ‘flashing’ and not real. Now I will be paying
for an avoidable mistake.
”Please you all should stay awake this festive
period so that no one will feel the pain that I am
feeling now. These days thieves wear suit and tie
with matching shoes and briefcase.”
Speaking on the development, President, Bank
Customer Association of Nigeria (BCAN), Dr. Uju
Ogubunka, said: “If the fake bank alert is not
traceable that is a different thing but if it is
somebody that is traceable then we will get him
to say where he made the payment and how he
made the payment. Then he will either be
vindicated or convicted.
“The menace does not affect banks but it affects
the confidence of the people in doing e-payment
transaction. So it puts a question mark on how
you can trust that somebody actually has made
the payment to you except you will call your bank
or go back to cross check first before you now
release whatever value you want to release.
“Unlike before when somebody makes a payment
if there is an alert you assume that it is genuine,
but with what is going on now, it is not going to
be comforting to anybody to just make the
assumption, oh I got an alert, and therefore, it is
okay.
How to checkmate the attack
‘‘What you then do is to go to the next level, call
your account manager for him or her to confirm
indeed that payment was made into your account
before you can release goods.
‘‘If you don’t have an account officer, at least you
should have a number with the bank that you can
call maybe that of the manager or the operations
officer or the customer service.’’
A Customer Care Manager at Ecobank in Lagos,
who pleaded anonymity, said: “It is not a new
phenomenon. As banks derive new techniques to
mitigate different types of fraud, the fraudsters
are also looking for new methods to continue
defrauding individuals and institutions.
“The only way bank customers can avert the
issue of fake bank alert is by downloading their
banks’ mobile application where they can get
valid evidence on any transaction being made.
They can also use their ATM to check their
account balance”.
On his part, Johnson Chukwu, a businessman
said: “I am aware of the fake bank alert. This
type of fraud will affect businesses and smooth
exchange of goods and services without cash.
This means that the cashless policy which the
CBN and banks are working so hard to sustain
will disappear.
“Recently, I bought an electronic gadget and paid
for it through mobile transfer. If people, especially
business owners, are continuously swindled
through this fake bank alert, they would be forced
to accept only cash which would lead to
increased arm robbery cases and little or no
confidence in the country’s banking system. Some
customers would not be allowed to go home with
their goods if they are cashless.
“To mitigate this menace, as we know that fraud
cannot be eradicated because these fraudsters
are always a step ahead of banks, the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN), banks and financial
institutions should give intensive technology
training to youths on how to crack a code or any
tactics used by hackers or fraudsters and also
inform the public once any type of fraud is
noticed within the banking system. I think with
this the federal government will help save the
cashless policy”.
source: www.vanguardngr.com/2019/02/fake-bank-alert-trending-in-electronic-fraud/

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