Gardai have warned the public to be extra vigilant when using cash dispensing machines following the discovery of a scam which has resulted in thousands of pounds being stolen from the accounts of ATM card holders, writes Eithne Donnellan.
The alert followed the arrest of two men in Tallaght, Dublin, yesterday and the seizure of ATM cards and plastic devices used by criminals to cause ATM cards to jam in cash dispensing machines.
A Garda spokesman confirmed the men arrested were non-nationals. They were being detained last night at Tallaght Garda station.
The spokesman said the operation was uncovered in a joint initiative by gardai from Tallaght and the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation (GBFI). "It's a scam that involves two pieces of plastic, one that sits around the slit where one's card is inserted into an ATM and a piece of soft plastic underneath it which actually goes into the slit," he said.
Explaining how it worked, he continued: "You go up to the ATM, insert your card and key in your pin number and you get money out. However, your card doesn't come out.
"The person standing behind you tells you that happened him before and to key in your PIN number again and the card will come out. He memorises your pin number as you enter it, but the card still doesn't come out because it's stuck in the plastic.
"He advises you to report it to your bank and when you leave he pulls out the plastic and has the card sitting on it. He then has the card and the PIN number and can withdraw as much as he wants."