Watch out at ATMs
This resident lost thousands after he was conned at an ATM in Oberholzer.
Residents, especially pensioners, should be vigilant when drawing money at ATMs, as criminals continue to lurk there.
This week, a Carletonville resident, Mrs Hettie Meyer, told how her husband, Willie, recently lost money to criminals at an ATM in the town.
Mr Meyer went to the FNB ATM at Shoprite on Onyx Drive to draw money on Friday, 19 April.
“Willie drew the cash and was walking away from the ATM when the security guard called him back,” says Mrs Meyer.
The “security guard” apparently told Mr Meyer he had to return to the machine as he had not completed the transaction.
If he did not insert his card into the machine again, the next client would not be able to draw money or complete another transaction.
“When my husband inserted his bank card into the ATM, it got stuck and he could not get it out again,” says Mrs Meyer.
Although he tried to phone the bank, Mr Meyer saw a transaction go through on his account as the call went through.
He managed to go to the FNB branch in town to cancel his card, and also discovered that the R8,000 that was somehow transferred from his account was used to buy vouchers at Pick n Pay.
According to video footage taken at this supermarket at precisely when the money disappeared from his account, two unknown men had used the stolen to buy vouchers at the cigarette counter.
The Meyers opened a case at the Carletonville police, who are now investigating the incident.
According to Mrs Meyer, her husband had returned to the Shoprite centre after the crime, only to realise that the “security guard” who had spoken to him was not employed there.
“We have seen him at other banks in the past, especially in Van Zyl Smit Street,” says Mrs Meyer. Following the incident, the Carletonville police warned that these thieves often target some of the ATMs on Van Zyl Smit Street. Customers should be particularly vigilant when they draw money. If they feel uncomfortable or uneasy at an ATM for any reason, they should rather go to another one instead.
By printing time, the thieves who stole Mr Meyer’s money had not yet been apprehended.
