Be careful not to fall a victim of ATM scams

MBOMBELA – The festive season is around the corner. Scammers and con artists are out there and they are targeting busy complexes and shopping malls. It’s very important and be wise up when you want to use an ATM and withdraw money.

Read: Avoid becoming a victim of holiday crime

Here are a few things that you need to know when you don’t want to find your wallet empty or discover that someone is swiping with your card:

* If you want to withdraw money from an ATM, you better be careful and check what is happening around you before you can continue. If you see something very suspicious like a group of people just standing close to the machine, don’t you dare and continue because they might rob you .

* If you are experiencing some technical problems in the ATM, like inserting your card or it is declining, don’t you dare and ask a stranger to assist you because they can pretend to help you, request your card and pin code and vanish. After some few minutes they will be withdrawing money from your account.

* Another trending scam, sometimes you insert your card in an ATM and enter your pin code and the amount that you want to withdraw, but dololo, instead of getting your money, you will receive a slip and your card. The slip will indicate that indeed you have withdrawn an amount. The very same group that we have mentioned in the first paragraph, took your money just the minute you left.

READ: Gang flees with money after grinding ATM

* We are living in a cruel society and thugs can do whatever it takes to get money by using dirty tricks of con artists well known as “Amasalamusi.” Some pretend to be prophets and tell you about stumbling blocks in your life.Once your start to entertain them by responding to what they say, suddenly your money disappears. Such scam is rife at the Nelspruit Plaza and during pension days as a majority of the victims are pensioners.

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