A lot of people are highly ignorant to how losing their phones to fraudsters can lead to a complete clean-up of their bank accounts.
If you ask any banker, he or she will tell you about the hundreds of customers who have often come crying to the banks for help after realising that the money in their bank accounts have either fallen short of what it should be or has hit red.
These fraudsters do this by stealing victims’ identity; name, address, bank information which they use in gaining access to their bank aacounts. They also use the stolen identity to defraud other people and even apply for loans, leaving the victim with debts.
A local fraudster arrested by the Police confesses to how he steals money from people’s bank accounts through their SIM cards. He claims he does “Wire Wire” also called SIM transaction or “Joker wire” where he can unlock, transfer and withdraw from any SIM card that is linked to a bank account.
In a video posted on Twitter by Jubril Gawat, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on New Media to the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the arrested fraudster confessed that once he gets hold of such a phone, he gains access to it easily by dialing the code, *425*100# to reveal the bank account connected to the SIM card.
For example, if it is an Access Bank aacount, he will dial *901*00# to show the users account balance. He will then proceed to reset the PIN, and the bank will ask for the account number and date of birth of the account holder. Since a lot of people save their account number on their contact list, He can easily get it there.
He will then proceed to use the account number to get the victim’s BVN, then use the BVN to get all his/her details by dialing *565*0#. With this information, he will proceed to reset the PIN, then use the date of birth to create a new PIN. From there, he will be able to transfer money out of the account.
He explains further that if the SIM card owner is a salary earner or owns a salary account, he will be eligible to apply for loans. As long as it’s the SIM used to receive bank account alerts, he can hack it. He does it so efficiently that the main owner of the account will receive no alert on any transactions done.
He transfers the stolen money to a “No trace Account” (Aza) using another stolen sim with its BVN to create it,
so the new account will be used to receive the funds and the owner of that stolen SIM card will be the one that will be traced.
Even if he does not see a SIM to use, as long as he can get the BVN, he can use it to receive the funds.
It can be tough to keep up with the many vices of internet fraudsters, who are constantly changing their techniques to keep ahead of the authorities. Being a victim of fraud can affect people of any age, and it can cost a lot of money.
We have valuable information we let out easily, but unconsciously. And there are people out there waiting to get hold of such information. It is advisable to always be careful of where and how we store our personal information.
