Fraudsters targeted two Dundee businesses with a sophisticated skimming scam, leaving an unsuspecting cash machine user with an empty account.
Police believe an organised criminal gang may be touring the area looking to defraud ATM users after a hi-tech device was discovered at a post office in the St Mary’s area. The unit now being forensically examined by specialist technicians was found attached to the cash machine at the post office in St Giles Terrace on Friday.
A second scam involving the machine at Craigiebank Post Office in Arbroath Road came to light on Tuesday when a customer reported his bank account had been cleaned out. In that instance no device was recovered but sticky tape was found around the card slot, indicating a device had been in situ but had since been removed.
Craigiebank postmaster Majid Hussein said a customer reported a problem with the shop’s machine and later found his bank account had been accessed.
“A customer came in on Monday who said he had tried to withdraw money but it hadn’t worked,” he said. “He mentioned it might be broken, then went to Asda but couldn’t withdraw money there either.
“He tried it again yesterday but it wouldn’t work so he contacted his bank, who said two withdrawals had been made from Essex which meant he had exceeded his withdrawal limit.Found tape”The police were contacted and they found tape at the top of the Cashline. Apparently they tape a camera to the top of the cash machine to read what PIN numbers people are typing in and plant a chip to read the card.”
Mr Hussein added that another customer had contacted him to say that he was unable to withdraw money from the ATM outside the Arbroath Road shop.
“He told me he should have had around £400 in his account but was unable to withdraw £20 because of insufficient funds. He had used the Cashline twice over the weekend. I called the Bank of Ireland and they confirmed someone had withdrawn money from his account.”
Postmaster at St Mary’s Syed Abedin said he was concerned a customer’s financial details may have been compromised.
“On Friday a customer told us he thought our machine had been skimmed. He showed me this device like a long strip at the top of the machine.
“We immediately called the police who came along and said they had found something. They took out whatever it was which has damaged the machine and it has been out of order since.
“This is an inconvenience to the customers and we are also very worried that folk might have been affected by this. We don’t know how many people this has hit. This is the first time this has happened to us and it is very depressing.”
Detective Chief Inspector Shaun McKillop of Dundee CID said skimming scams are generally carried out by organised criminal groups who target an area for a short period, then move on.
He said members of the public need to be vigilant whenever they are using cash machines and report any problems they encounter, adding, “What we do find is that it is organised criminal groups that are involved in this type of activity and it is a UK-wide problem as opposed to a local problem.”
Anyone with information about either incident should call the police on 0300 111 2222 or pass on information anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Photo used under a Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user catatronic.