Elderly man robbed of R4 000
THE Durban North SAPS has urged people to be vigilant and not to accept strangers’ help while at an ATM.
This comes after an incident of card cloning last week. Raymond Deokaran, spokesman for Durban North police station, said while there hasn’t been a spike in card cloning, there have been several incidences of the crime in North Durban in the past year.
“There’s normally a duo working in tandem. When you are busy with a transaction, one man will try and distract you and the minute you look away, the other guy has cloned your card. In the most recent robbery, an elderly resident had his card cloned at an uMhlanga ATM. The resident had just put his card into the ATM when he noticed a man behind him. The suspect pressed the cancel button and escaped on foot with the resident’s card.
“When the resident tried to cancel his card, he was informed that two transactions had already been processed and R4 000 was withdrawn,” he said.
Deokaran added that a with a card skimmer, criminals can read all the account information stored electronically on the magnetic stripe, plus, depending on the sophistication, record your personal identification number, or PIN, as you punch it in on the ATM keypad.
“I urge residents to be vigilant at ATMs and keep their personal information confidential, and not to accept help from strangers. People are well within their rights to ask people to step back. It’s also important to guard the keypad. If you see anything suspicious, contact the police or cancel the transaction,” he said.
