ASSESSMENT OF THE ACTIVITIES OF FRAUDSTERS USING ATM AND ATM PIN IN JALINGO METROPOLIS OF TARABA STATE

ABSTRACT The use of ATM has grown rapidly in popularity because of its low banks transaction costs and customer’s convenience which has made it a basic element of today’s financial service delivery. However, the ATM which is meant to be serving the customers better is now becoming a nightmare for some customers because of fraud perpetuated in their accounts through ATM withdrawals. The main purpose of this work is to examine the activities of fraudsters through ATM pin and how these frauds have affected financial institution growth and customer’s patronage of banks in Jalingo Metropolis. Over time, consumers have come to depend on and trust the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) to conveniently meet their banking needs. But in recent time there have been a proliferation of ATM frauds in the country even and across the globe. Managing the risk associated with ATM fraud as well as diminishing its impact is an important issue that face financial institutions as fraud techniques have become more advanced with increased occurrences. The ATM is only one of many Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) devices that are vulnerable to fraud attacks. This researcher made use of four banks as a case study for this research work. Data was collected from questionnaires, interviews and observation from the five banks under study. In conclusion, the activities of fraudsters need to be monitored and measures should be put in place to mitigate these frauds. The research identifies the common ATM fraud, how, where and when these frauds are perpetuated and then proffer security recommendation that should be adhered to by both the banks as financial institutions and the ATM users in order to eliminate or reduce it to the barest minimum. To solve this, additional security layer on the ATM is recommended and proper monitoring of the ATM machine by the banks. We believe that if banks and service providers heed to some of these suggestions in this work, we will have a safer, hassle- free and worth while banking experience in this country.