Residents lose R68 500 at North Durban ATMs

THE Durban North SAPS has urged residents to be vigilant and not to accept strangers’ help while at an ATM. This comes after a number of card swapping and cloning incidents last week at ATMs around Durban North and uMhlanga. In two of the cases, residents were unaware that large sums of money (R33 000 and R15 000) were taken from their accounts over a period of days.

Lt Raymond Deokaran, spokesman for the SAPS, warned residents not to accept help from strangers and to be especially vigilant.

Popular techniques used by ATM thieves is shoulder surfing.

“Shoulder surfing refers to using observation techniques, such as looking over someone’s shoulder, to get information. It is commonly used to obtain passwords, PINs, security codes, and similar data. What we’ve found in all the incidents have been criminals distracting people using ATMs in order to create an opportunity to steal from you. They are able to swap your ATM card with a similar looking card while you are not looking,” he explained.

He added five cases were reported last week.

“They also use the cancel option, where they tell you something is wrong with the ATM and repeatedly press cancel in order to swap your card. If someone is standing too close to you, you are well within their rights to ask them to step back. It’s also important to guard the keypad. If you see anything suspicious, contact the police or cancel the transaction,” he said.

In another case of fraud, a man was arrested after he was able to swap a resident’s credit card. He went to several shops in uMhlanga spending R24 000 before he was nabbed by police.