Tuesday July 28, 2009
ATM bait and switch con job
By ZALINAH NOORDIN
KUALA LUMPUR: Con artists are now using a new tactic to rob people at auto-teller machines (ATM) by swapping ATM cards.
Acting with accomplices, including women, they would distract and confuse their victim while the person is in the midst of a transaction and by sleight of hand, would swap his or her ATM card.
One of them would memorise the victim’s personal identification number while they were being punched at the start of the transaction.
The latest incident occurred on Tuesday night when credit card agent See Teck Chuan was robbed of RM5,000 at the Seri Gombak Maybank ATM machines.
He said he saw three Middle Eastern-looking people, including a woman, in the bank.
“I went to the second machine while the woman, who was clad in an abaya (long gown normally worn by Arab women), went to the one next to mine.
“A very tall man stood behind me. In the midst of my transaction, the woman suddenly called out to me in a foreign language and signalled for me to pick up some bank notes on the floor,” he said.
See said he told her that the money was not his but she kept gesturing for him to pick up the notes. He did so after she pointed to her back, as if trying to indicate that she had back pain.
“She still appeared dissatisfied and kept talking with me facing her the whole time,” he said.
See claimed that the woman then left in a huff together with the tall man behind him without taking the money.
Before he could proceed with his transaction, the third man still in the bank “scolded” him for keeping the money.
“As he appeared very angry, I decided to place the money back on the floor. Then, I continued with my transaction but it failed.
“I ejected my card and inserted it again and was surprised to see the name that appeared on the screen as someone else’s.
“I then realised that I had been tricked, but it was too late as all three foreigners had left,” he told reporters at the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department yesterday.
See said he immediately called the bank to have his account frozen but was asked a series of questions instead. “Precious minutes were wasted and by the time I got my account frozen, my money was already gone,” he said.
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