Bernavie N’dzoungani-N’kamba writes:
I went to buy airtime at a shop on 7th Avenue Melville and they told me they don’t take cards, so I went right outside to the FNB ATM. While I was withdrawing money a man in a suit stood behind me as if he was waiting for his turn to withdraw money, so I looked at him and then carried on as the distance between us was normal.
When I finished withdrawing and was leaving, the guy told me that I wasn’t done with my transaction. So I went back to the ATM and saw that somehow it was still asking me to make a selection, which was strange. I had never seen that and thought I had to find a way to cancel this because I thought to myself, someone might just make a selection and withdraw money from my account even though my card is no longer there. We never know with technology these days.
Little did I know that I was being played.
As I was trying to figure out how to cancel that, the guy told me from where he was standing, “When it does this just enter your card again, your pin and press cancel,” which I did.
But it didn’t work, so I did it again in confusion. While I was entering my pin for the second time the guy had already taken out the card somehow and disappeared without me noticing. I then realised what was happening, so I ran after him and found him chatting to some guys. I confronted him, grabbed him by his jacket and shouted, “You took my card, give me back my card,” screaming for help at the same time because I was surrounded by at least 10 men some of whom were car and security guards.
They all stood there and just looked at me as if I was stupid or something. As I was still holding on to the big tall guy by his jacket, he got into a grey car and asked his two accomplices to start the car. As they were leaving and the car was moving, I was still holding on to him by his jacket still screaming and moving with the car. I had to eventually let go because they were accelerating and I was going to get hurt.
I want to share this because I believe knowledge is power.
Had I known how the ATM jamming scam works, I would have picked it up from the beginning and gone about my business after I had withdrawn the money.
I guess we shouldn’t be so trusting, I mean I know that one should not accept help from anyone at an ATM, but hey, I let my guards down because I have genuinely been asked for help before.
I’ve offered help and I’ve been helped. I just do not understand how men can just stand there when I, a woman – short and unarmed – can be brave enough to grab a taller man by his jacket and when they can see that he has no gun. It’s beyond me.
Editor’s note: Letter published unedited.
