TWENTY minutes was all it took for criminals to withdraw R7 800 from a pensioner’s bank account after his card had been cloned. Effingham resident Luc Augustine said his 71-year-old father had used the Nedbank ATM on Adelaide Tambo Drive (Kensington) on Friday (22 August) when the machine swallowed his card.
Criminals then made two withdrawals 10 minutes apart, firstly at a Mackeurtan Avenue ATM and then at an ATM in KwaMashu.
It’s believed the machine may have been fitted with a card skimming device which could clone more than 1 000 card numbers. These details can then be transferred onto any card with a magnetic strip.
“When my dad put in his card, the screen began to glitch and it froze. A man in the queue behind him told him repeatedly to press the cancel button. After a few minutes, he resigned himself to the fact that his card was swallowed.
“When he went to the bank the next day, he was informed that R7 800 had been withdrawn from his account. He was extremely upset because he didn’t know his card had been cloned. Unfortunately he didn’t even have the notify me service which I’ve now signed him up to,” he said.
Lt Raymond Deokaran, spokesman for the Durban North SAPS urged residents never to leave an ATM if their card is swallowed.
“If your card is trapped or swallowed by an ATM, do not leave the machine. Call the bank card stop number immediately and cancel the card before leaving. Do not accept help or allow anyone to interfere with your transaction,” Deokaran said.
He urged bank customers to register for the notify service, which automatically sends an SMS to customers when there is any activity on their accounts.
