Although many banks have replaced their former ATM card with Master Card, which has more security features, some people are still not impressed about the device, NIKE POPOOLA and STANLEY OPARA report.
The unpleasant experience Mr. Wale Atolagbe had last year when he tried to withdraw money from his bank account using the Automated Teller Machine card is not something he will forget in a hurry.
He had tried the card on three ATMs at different locations at Lekki in Lagos, but none of them dispensed money. He was angry but there was nothing he could do.
The next day, he had to go to his bank for clarification, only to be told that he had withdrawn N60,000 with his ATM card, a day earlier. His countenance instantly changed and he demanded an immediate explanation.
Atolagbe was asked to lodge a formal complaint at the bank, which he did.
Although the bank later resolved the matter and refunded his money, this was several weeks after the incident. He had had to look for money elsewhere to meet his urgent needs.
After this experience, he stopped using the ATM card. He also decided not to use the new MasterCard when his bank introduced it with enhanced security features to check fraud.
Atolagbe‘s experience is one out of many ugly tales ATM card holders are always willing to share. Most of the affected people often receive withdrawal alerts on their mobile telephones without conducting any transactions.
But the Chief Marketing Officer, Interswitch, Mrs. Tito Adeniyi-Aderoju, says, due to constant increase in ATM fraud in Nigeria, 18 Nigerian banks have partnered Interswitch on its Verve platform.
This is a product of Interswitch introduced to ensure customers’ security in the course of e-Payment transactions.
She says banks are on the platform because of the advantage it offers, adding that the technology offers both local and international ATM securities.
She explains that, aside from other benefits the Verve card presents, it also allows the card user to send message and block the card in case an act of stealing is suspected. The money guard facility, she notes, has made many bank customers that were hitherto not on the platform, to come on-board.
Although many Nigerian banks have switched over to the MasterCard, some users are still not enthusiastic about it, even when experts have said that the new card is more secure and free from fraud.
Some of the victims have vowed never to have anything to do with the ATM card. Not even the introduction of the MasterCard has made them change this position.
A survey by our correspondents shows that many, especially victims of ATM fraud are still sceptical about the new design.
For instance, Mr. Babawale Idowu, a Lagos-businessman, says that one major reason he readily embraced the ATM card when it was first introduced in the country was the ease with which he could withdraw money from any bank nearest to him anytime he had an urgent need for cash.
“I did not need to go to the bank and queue for hours; but with the way people were losing money through the use of ATM card. I had to suspend it,” he adds.
Miss Sussan Ibrahim, a businesswoman, had earlier got a message form her bank some months before her ATM card was deactivated, on the new change the bank would embrace.
According to her, she was told that with effect from August 1, 2010, all cash plus cards would be deactivated and replaced with the new naira MasterCard.
Some of the reasons that prompted her to get the new card, she said were that the new card would not just be a local card but an international card that could be used in its branches in any country.
She could not go to her branch to collect her new card because of the distance to her new residence; she went to another branch to make a written request, asking that her card should be transferred to the nearest branch to her.
When Mr. Ifeanyi Daniel applied for his MasterCard in his bank, he was asked to fill a form and come back in two weeks to get it.
This attracted an immediate deduction of N1,000 from his account. So far, he says, he has been using it like the former card, and has not had any unpleasant experience.
But another holder of the ATM card, Mr. Kehinde Quadri, says the MasterCard was a necessity.
”I don‘t like to go and spend time at the bank. That is why I like to use the card. I always expect my bank to send me a text message to notify me of any transaction on my account; when I get the notification regularly after using my ATM, I know that my money is still safe.”
Though she never had any unpleasant experience with the former card, she felt that the use of the card would still give her a lot of convenience.
No matter what may be said about the MasterCard, Mrs. Romoke Lawal is indifferent to it, as she has never used the ATM card and is not ready to give the card a trial.
According to her, ”I have heard a lot of discouraging things about the ATM card and I don‘t want anybody to steal my money. If your money gets missing, the banks can say maybe your brother or your sister picked your card and used it without your knowledge. But if I don‘t use the card, if anything happens to my money, the bank will explain what they did with it.”
Mr. Charles Duru has never used card to withdraw money and he says he has yet to see the need to try the card.
He says, ”I don‘t want any funny experience. Though I have heard a lot about the card, I am satisfied with going to the bank anytime I need my money. I think it is safer that way.”
However, Mr. Steve Obinna, who had an unpleasant experience with the former ATM, said that for the past two months that he had used the MasterCard, he had not had any negative story to tell.
But he says it is still too early for him to assess how good the new card is.
For Mr. Patrick Agwu, an accountant, he has had to get the MasterCard because his banks insist that it must be used for all withdrawals below N60,000. Although he claims that the use of ATM is convenient and easy, there are fears that once the card gets into the hands of fraudulent people, they can withdraw all the money without the knowledge of the owners.
He says how to keep the card well and ensure that nobody is lurking around the ATM pay point when he needs to use it have become his greatest challenge.
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