KEY POINT
- However, POS operators are warned, by the police, of the dangers of handling transactions exceeding N500,000.
- Large transactions may be linked to criminal activities like ransom payments.’
- Police warns N4m ransom case, POS operator against legal implications.
Delta State Police Command warns Point of Sale (POS) operators to desist from handling any transaction of more than N500, 000.
SP Edafe Bright, the command’s spokesman, said the large transactions carried out through POS accounts may be part of criminal activities as kidnappers may receive ransom from them.
This is contained in a video posted by SP Edafe on his official X profile, where he told POS operators to ask customers to go to banks for transactions above N500,000 as they could be held liable for severe legal consequences for involving themselves in high value transactions.
Edafe noted that, “anybody who wants to do a transaction above N500,000 should go to the bank.”
There exists a risk of POS operator involvement In criminal activity
Edafe also pointed to a case of a POS operator unwittingly processing a N4 million ransom to kidnappers. However, the operator then only profited N40, 000 from the deal as the funds were of criminal origin, and left a mess for the operator to clean up as he is being dragged to court in connection with illegal funds.
Edafe told us that ‘This lady was contacted by a suspect who sent N4 million into her account money taken from kidnapping victim as ransom’.
He continued by warning POS operators: “We have already started uncovering those things,transactions above N500,000 can get you into trouble, don’t fall victim to being a tool used by kidnappers to collect ransom, this will be traced back to you.”
The POS operator explained that she had been making routine small transactions for her customer, Timothy Ogheneochuko, before the N4m was passed into her account, in the video.
‘We have done a local fraud before, but I did not know what they were doing their game,” Ogheneochuko said it was his first time transferring such a large amount.
According to Vanguard, The warning to POS operators therefore is to be very wary especially when processing large transactions as these could be related to serious crimes such as kidnapping and fraud.
