Stolen ATM cards: 4 arrested

Page 3: June 6, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
FOUR men have been arrested by the police for using stolen foreign electronic visa Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards to withdraw money in Ghanaian banks.
At the time of arrest, they had withdrawn GH¢3,200 from the Ecobank cash point at the Labone Shell Filling Station.
The suspects — Sulley Larrin, Mathias Ola, Henry Smith and Dominic Obi — who are all Nigerians, are currently in police custody pending further investigations.
They had in their possession, 90 pieces of electronic visa ATM cards belonging to both local and foreign nationals.
The cards were issued by ECOBANK, Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, UBA, Skybank, World Point, FNB and Virgin Bank, among others.
Briefing the Daily Graphic in Accra on Tuesday, the Director of Police Public Relations, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kwasi Ofori, said the police mounted a search for the culprits, following intelligence reports that a gang had been using stolen foreign electronic visa ATM cards in the country.
He said the police later had a tip-off that the group usually operated at night moving from one ATM centre to another using the cards to withdraw the money.
He said it came to light that in a day the suspects could withdraw as much as GH¢20,000 using the different cards.
DSP Ofori said when the police became convinced about the activities of the group, a team of police personnel were detailed to monitor their movements from Monday, June 2, 2008.
According to him, at about 1 a.m. on Tuesday, June 3, 2008, the group were located at the Ecobank cash dispensing centre at the Shell Filling Station at Labone withdrawing money.
He said when the police swooped on them, the suspects had at the time withdrawn GH¢3,200 and had the 90 pieces of ATM cards on them.
DSP Ofori said the suspects allegedly admitted that the cards were sent to them from their counterparts in the United Kingdom.
He said the police suspected that such fraudsters usually slept in hotels and accessed other facilities such as air tickets with such stolen cards.