Resident shocked after robbery at Morningside mall
MORNINGSIDE - Resident Shani Cohen has expressed concern regarding the poor level of security at The Wedge Shopping Centre in Morningside after she was robbed of her credit card at the centre’s ATM.
On 14 June Cohen entered the Wedge Shopping Centre to draw money from the ABSA ATM. She said that when she got there she noticed a man using the ATM. Cohen said, “While waiting, I also noticed the security camera facing the ATM machine, something that I always look for when using any ATM. When the man finished, I approached the machine and noticed the man standing a few feet back from me.”
She said that she suspected he had made a mistake and planned on using the machine again. Cohen added that she noticed him moving closer to her as she entered in her details. She struggled to enter her pin due to malfunctioning buttons and the man moved closer offering his assistance.
“I turned around to ask him to step further away from me so I could try and enter my pin one more time. As I turned I saw him running away and racing off in a white GTI. I turned back to the machine and my credit card was gone,” she said.
After immediately cancelling her credit card, Cohen approached a security guard to look at the surveillance footage in the centre. But the security guard told her that the cameras in the centre were not working.
She filed her complaint to the Wedge Shopping Centre. Deidre Stoffel, a representative from the Wedge Shopping Centre, said that they will be replacing the onsite security team and the surveillance system is in the process of being upgraded; a fully functional system will be in place within the next two weeks.
Cohen has expressed disappointment and anger towards the shopping centre’s poor level of security saying, “If the security cameras are not working, step security up, especially around target areas like ATM machines.”
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How did he get the card out of the machine so quickly? Her story seems a bit fishy to me…
Dan the genius ..why would someone steal their own card , for what purpose. You just need to check with the banks how prevalent ATM theft is!!!!!!These are slick con artists. I certainly will not go to the ATM at the Wedge!
The same thing happened to me in the same fashion at the Shell garage on Rivonia Road (next to the Andiccios pizza place). It’s definitely a Syndicate. I can also state that the security at The Wedge is appalling as my laptop was stolen 3 months ago via remote jamming. There was a car guard on stand by who obviously saw nothing and was not on his shift when the incident occurred. Moral of the story is that Sandton crime is on the up and Morningside is a designated crime hot spot.
I had the exact same experience at the Wedge a month ago.I got distracted by a guy at the ATM who said his card was jammed in the machine before I used it.Only when he ran away did I realize my card had been stolen.The security were total apathetic and management never returned my calls.
@Samuel the genius, in order to withdraw the card from the machine (she said she was entering her pin) one must first cancel the transaction and then wait several second for the card to be ejected. This apparently happened in the blink of an eye. Not saying she’s lying, its just the chronology doesn’t work.
Sandton CPF & Sandton SAPS invite all shopping centre managers to attend or send representatives to our weekly Security meetings. Communities can assist by encouraging the management of the shopping centres they support to be present at these meetings where current trends, security and crime fighting is discussed on a weekly basis.
Same thing happened to me in Durban. Security is becoming redundant. To whoever thinks this story is fishy, until it happens to you, don’t think you can understand. It happens so quickly. Thank you for this article, it lets people know to be vigilant and which areas are hotspots.