SUIDEROORD – A stern warning has been issued by Mondeor SAPS Sector 2 CPF for residents to be wary of who’s around when they are doing transactions at
ATMs.
The cautionary notice came after a resident reported suspicious criminal activity at an ATM at Columbine Square in Suideroord.
A screen grab of the report read “I went to Columbine Square to do some shopping; I decided to draw money at the Standard Bank ATM. Once I had drawn money, got the slip, money and card back; I was tapped on the shoulder by a black gentleman.”
According to the resident, the man told her to put her card back in the machine and punch in her pin as somebody could draw money from her account as she had not finished with her ATM transaction. That was when she told him to leave her alone as she was suspecting foul play.
“I told him to go away, that I was not putting my pin in again and I would call the police.”
Unfortunately, the suspected criminal insisted that the resident do as he instructed.
“He kept insisting that I put my pin in again. Now, I wasn’t so polite. I left and watched the ATM and he tried the same with a Indian gentleman. What happened, I am not sure as he jumped in his white Polo and took off,” she added.
It seems Standard Bank ATMs are targeted by bank card criminals as people utilising the Standard Bank ATM in Ridgeway and Southdale have also been robbed of their bank cards and even money that had just been withdrawn.
The Standard Bank ATM at a petrol station in Ridgeway has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, as it seems to be targeted by card skimming criminals and peeping Toms.
A 28-year-old woman was at the Standard Bank ATM in the process of keying in her pin number, when she suddenly turned round and realised that a man had been trying to get a closer look at her pin.
The “scariest part” she said was that the brazen criminal, upon seeing that he’d been caught trying to peep at the woman’s ATM pin, did not run away or display any shame.
“When I turned around and saw the coloured guy trying to sneak a peep as I was punching in my pin, he just acted cool, didn’t even run away. When I was done at the ATM he also used it, but I could see that he had his eye on me. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but I was definitely freaked out,” explained Noluthando Hadebe.
Noluthando said she rushed home because she feared that the short coloured man would follow her. Although she arrived home safely, there was little relief to be had.
“I started thinking that I should’ve changed my ATM pin, because I wasn’t sure if he had seen anything. The whole night I couldn’t relax, every time a message came in on my phone, I feared that it was a notification from my bank notifying me of withdrawals,” recalled Noluthando.
Thankfully, there were no withdrawals by the suspected criminal. However, some haven’t been as fortunate at that ATM. A Ridgeway resident fell victim to card skimmers who managed to make off with her card, a few minutes later; at least R4 000 had been withdrawn from the ladies account.
