With big spending and the hustle and bustle of month-end, opportune moments present themselves to criminals.
A spate of alleged Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) fraud cases have been committed where several people have lost large sums of money after utilising the Standard Bank ATM at the Spar Shopping Centre.
The manager from a restaurant there called the Estcourt News on Friday and requested that the public be made aware.
He suspects that the bankcard is being cloned after it is ‘swallowed’ by the ATM.
“About 10 women have been victims to this last week alone. One person turned her back and before she knew it R4 000 was gone from the account,” he said.
These incidents have been reported mainly during the busy month-end period.
Another resident believes he almost fell victim to this on Friday.
Whilst in the process of making a withdrawal, he was disturbed by a well-dressed male who prompted him to continue with his transaction.
The resident became angry and instructed the stranger to move away. During this time, his young daughter pressed the ATM keypad and the card was not returned.
He immediately went to the bank and cancelled the card, relieved to find that no money was unlawfully withdrawn from his account.
Attempts to contact Standard Bank’s Public Relations Division were unsuccessful.
Police spokesperson Captain JS Sokhela did not provide any information at the time of going to print.