The Delta State Police Command has cautioned Point of Sale operators to be careful about handling large transactions, following a kidnapping case where a POS operator unknowingly facilitated a ransom payment.
The Public Relations Officer of the command, SP Bright Edafe, took to his X (formerly Twitter) page on Thursday to warn POS operators about the risks involved in processing transactions above 500,000 Naira.
His warning came after a yet-to-be-identified POS operator handled a 4 million Naira ransom payment, earning a profit of just 40,000 Naira from the deal.
Edafe explained, “Transaction above 500k can get you into trouble. Don’t be a tool for kidnappers to collect ransom. It must be traced to you. She received 4,000,000 Naira ransom from kidnappers and her profit was just 40,000. Can you imagine?”
The POS operator, who was questioned by police, stated that she was unaware the large sum was connected to a crime. She told police that she had been conducting smaller transactions with a customer, Timothy Ogenechukwu, who suddenly deposited 4 million Naira into her account. “He has been doing transactions with me, maybe at times 5,000 or 2,000,” she said. On the day of the large deposit, she claimed he simply called and told her to check her account, but he did not explain why the amount was so large.
“I didn’t know,” she explained, stating that she assumed it was just another business transaction like the ones they had done in the past. The operator admitted she made a profit of 40,000 Naira from the transaction but insisted she had no knowledge of the criminal background.
During the investigation, Edafe highlighted the dangers of handling such large sums, warning that the POS operator could face legal consequences for unknowingly facilitating the kidnapping payment. He urged all POS operators to be cautious and advised them to redirect any transaction above 500,000 Naira to a bank to avoid being linked to criminal activities.
Edafe added, “Whenever you ask a PoS operator if you are receiving money too much that is unreasonably high, understand that there is an element of crime in it because they are supposed to go to the bank.”
