As part of their drive to combat crime, Honeydew police urge members of the community to exercise caution at ATMs.
Police spokesperson Captain Balan Muthan said although the festive season is over, it is important that continuous and proactive steps are taken. Suspects are becoming innovative and in some instances create devices that read unsuspecting consumers’ bank cards and defraud them.
Among others, would-be thieves con victims by pretending to be assisting them with withdrawals at ATMs.
In some cases, the victims receive calls asking them to confirm their cellphone numbers or at least four digits thereof.
Once that is done, they would then experience problems with their cellphones and be forced to switch them off. When they try to switch them on, they find their SIM cards have been blocked. The suspects would then do a SIM swap without the victim’s consent and access their accounts.
Here are some tips to keep safe:
- Be wary of people who try to lure you with stories that are too good to be true and only buy products on the Internet from reputable companies
- Be careful of people who volunteer to assist you at the ATM
- Do not believe promises of easy money
- Do not use repeat passwords for anything involving sensitive personal information
- Avoid isolated ATMs and don’t use them late at night
- If you feel unsafe at an ATM or you are suspicious of individuals loitering in the vicinity, trust your instincts, go away and use another ATM
- Never accept help from strangers when using an ATM
- Don’t allow anyone to swipe your card on a small black device unknown to you
- Never send emails that contain card numbers and expiry dates or disclose this information over the phone.
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