Internet fraudsters are at work again. They are trying once again to defraud Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card users by sending fraudulent mail purportedly in the name of Interswitch Nigeria Limited, the switching company which drives the ATM and debit card network of Nigeria’s 24 banks.

Mitchell Alegbe, managing director of Interswitch assures card users however that his company is on top of the situation and that the card users will have no problems as long as they do not disclose their PIN numbers to anyone. Alegbe says Interswitch is the nation's foremost transactions and switching company, with all the 24 banks connected to its network to provide electronic banking services through debit and credit cards, ATM and point of sale terminals (POS) and that it is constantly deploying new technologies to address the issue.

In a recent attempt, the fraudsters sent out e-mail to random addresses attempting to get ATM and debit card users to disclose their PIN numbers. The said mail read”:This is to notify you that our services are being upgraded to a new, better and more secured system . You are now required to click here and register all your debit cards, X-change cards, and cash cards online immdiately so as to enable your card to work on our new servers. Only registered cards will work with the ATM machines.”

Interswitch says this message is not from it and that card holders should ignore it.The company adds that on no account should any card holder disclose his or her PIN number to any third party.

In a previous attempt, fraudsters allegedly set up a fake website which attempted to replicate the Interswitch website and the company promptly moved to get the site shut down. Officials of the company told Business Day that the company has put in place a technology that enables it detect and shut down any fake Interswitch website immediately it appears on the internet and it has shut down such websites since the technology was installed.

In addition to this, the company in collaboration with participating banks embarked on a massive enlightenment campaign to inform cardholders on the activities and operations of the company and means of detecting fraud attempts and protecting their card information from getting into wrong hands.