Police: Cloned certificates, ATM cards in circulation

Dan Okoro, commissioner of police, anti-fraud unit, Federal Criminal Investigation Intelligence Department (FCIID), says there are many cloned certificates and ATM cards in circulation.

Okoro raised the alarm while briefing journalists in Lagos on the discovery of some certificates cloned by a syndicate which specialises in printing fake documents of banks, government and corporate organisations.

He said the syndicate had been using the cloned documents to defraud banks, government, corporate organisations and individuals, stressing that some bank officials were collaborating with the suspects for the crime.

According to NAN, presidential clearance certificates, CBN, IMF and court documents were among documents cloned by the syndicate.

Okoro said: “I advise members of the public against cloned certificates, ATM card and other important documents currently in circulation. I want members of the public to keep their pin numbers, passwords and ATM safe.

“We have some documents recovered from one suspect arrested. We are investigating the documents and some bank staffers allegedly collaborating the syndicate.

“It is only the bankers that have details of every deposit in the bank. Our investigation revealed that some bankers give information to the syndicate on how much customers have in every account.

“The syndicate cloned documents and transferred such money to another account, particularly, accounts with ATM cards are their easiest target.

“Many crimes are going on in different banks, unfortunately, the bank management will not allow the public to know about it because they want to keep their customers trust.”

Okoro said the unit was able to detect some of the documents through the assistance of a foreign cybersecurity firm based in Lagos using forensic analysis equipment to unravel the identities of the syndicate members.

The commissioner said the suspect arrested is currently in the hospital after he collapsed during the search of his house.

“The suspect is a website designer. He designed many of the cloned documents. We are on the trail of other members of the syndicate,” he said.