A Krugersdorp resident was left in shock when she was robbed at an automatic teller machine (ATM) in Noordheuwel over the weekend.

She wishes to warn others to be very careful.

The 80-year-old Esther Leus said she usually is very vigilant and always checks her surroundings but on Sunday, 6 December a man pretending to help her stole her ATM card right before her eyes.

“Usually when I use this ATM there is a security guard, so when I walked in on Sunday I saw the man standing there. I noticed his shirt had a logo in white on it and I assumed it was the security guard,” she explained, adding that she was the only one there, with the exception of the man whom she thought was a security guard.

She inserted her card into the machine, but after entering her PIN she was surprised by the message on the screen telling her that the PIN she had entered was incorrect. She thought it was strange and when she wanted to cancel the request the ‘security guard’ walked closer.

He asked me if something was wrong. He then leaned against the side of the ATM while he typed in something with his left hand. He said to me everything was fine now and walked away.”

But when she looked at the screen she saw the message that she should enter her 11-digit PIN, and that her ATM card was missing.

She ran outside and asked the car guard where the man went. He told her that he and another man jumped into a black car that was waiting outside, and then sped off.

Luckily Esther could stop her card and got a new one with a new PIN as soon as possible, but she said that since this incident many people have told her that the same thing had happened to them at different ATMs around town.

She said she never asked the man to help her, but he was watching her and wedged himself between her and the ATM without being asked for help.

Esther believed that the ATM was tampered with and wished to warn other residents to be very vigilant when withdrawing money from an ATM.

The men were in their late 40s, reasonably well-built, and very well-mannered and well-spoken,” she described them.