What is it about?
A major downside of the cashless policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2014 is pervasive automated teller machine (ATM) frauds. While fraudsters gain, the life chances of victims are affected. Previous studies in Nigeria had not investigated the effect of ATM frauds on victims’ life chances. Data were generated through in-depth interviews with victims of ATM fraud. Findings show victims suffered post fraud trauma and often depended on friends, parents and relatives to survive the trauma. The reaction of banks to customers’ victimization was unfavorable and unhelpful in compensating the financial losses of customers. We recommend better internal controls for banks and implementation of mechanisms to govern trust and protect customers from victimization.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
This is important because Nigeria is adopting cashless policy and digital payment channels are being encouraged for transactions. However, fraud landscape is widening but limited knowledge about experiences of fraud in Nigeria
Perspectives
Our study makes a new contribution by placing the narratives of ATM fraud victims in the spotlight since they are among those whom the e-payment technology is designed to serve. Furthermore, this attempt is timely because victims of ATM fraud are often helpless in the face of fraudsters who defraud them and commercial banks that employ techniques of neutralization to avoid responsibility.
Oludayo Tade
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: ‘They withdrew all I was worth’, International Review of Victimology, May 2017, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0269758017704330.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page