Banks in Zambia have lost about 4 million U. S. dollars to cybercrime through Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), the Post of Zambia reported on Friday.
Solomon Jere, the deputy inspector general of the Zambia Police Service, said the police have discovered a scam in which three foreign criminals had recruited and trained Zambians in cybercrime, adding that the recruited Zambians had already started operating and were specialized thieves through ATMs.
"So far about 4 million dollars has already been stolen from different banks through ATM withdrawals. Members of the public are therefore advised to secure their pin numbers and not to at any time share them with anyone who will offer them help," he told the newspaper.
Police, he said, have since been placed on high alert for the criminals who are mostly operating in the Zambian capital Lusaka and major cities on the Copperbelt Province. The police have also put up measures where officers specialized in cybercrime would be presenting sensitization programs through various media on cyber crime to members of the public, he added. The police chief expressed concern that Zambians were working in league with some foreign elements specialized in ATM thefts to steal from their fellow Zambians.
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