Victim warns of ATM imposter guards

GLENWOOD resident has warned fellow community members to be aware of criminals posing as security guards after he was duped by a 'guard' at a bank in Davenport on Monday night.

According to Jordan Reid, he went to an ATM on Brand Road to deposit cash into his account and did the transaction as normal.

“I took my slip and went to my car. As I was driving out a lady called me back to say I had forgotten my card, so I went back to the ATM and my card was gone. I asked the other people and a security guard at the ATMs if they had seen it, and a man came to me and said it had gone back into the machine and he told me I must push 'this' button and type in my pin and push cancel and that will return my card,” he said.

Reid said he already knew something was wrong, and as he started to enter his pin he noticed the man trying to look over his shoulder as the numbers appeared on the screen.

“I turned around and confronted him and started shouting at him asking him where my card was. He continued to try tell me that it was still in the machine. I tried his method again to try get it out, this time with hands covering the numbers, and noticed him trying to look again. I pushed him away from me and got really angry at him and he ran off. I noticed the security guard running behind him and I gave chase,” he said.

The men both ran around the corner and jumped into a dark blue Mercedes Benz and sped up Helen Joseph Road.

“At first I thought the security guard was chasing him, only to find out that he was in on the whole scam,” he said.

Reid stopped his card immediately and contacted the security company, but was informed they didn't have a security guard on duty at that time and the security guard was just a decoy posing as a guard.

He said he had spoken to the manager at the bank who said this kind of crime had been a problem for them lately at that particular ATM, especially late at night when there was no “real” security guard on duty.

“My cousin was also held up at that ATM a short while ago by a group of guys, they forced her to withdraw all the cash out of her account before fleeing,” said Reid.

Heather Rorick, chairperson of the Bulwer Community Safety Forum, has been working on the issue of people using ATMs in Davenport at night. She said she was concerned by the number of people who use the ATM late at night and who are under possible threat of muggings or theft, as a result.

“I went to the banks last week Thursday. Two of the banks are doing a survey to see how many customers use their ATMs after hours and if it warrants having a full time guard employed at these banks. If not, they will post a security guard at the bank from 7am to 5pm, but close their ATM machines at 9pm every night. Only one of the banks has 24 hour security and they say it has helped a lot,” she said.

Rorick said she would be putting together an email to the banks regarding her concerns.

“All banks said they did try and encourage their clients to rather refrain from drawing money at ATMs where security could be a risk and to rather use their swipe cards,” she said.