WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-06-08 Time: 16:00:01 Posted By: News Poster
Cape Town – With thousands of cash-flush visitors pouring into the city for the World Cup next week, ATMs in many prime tourist spots are being targeted by slick syndicates.
A senior police source said the syndicates are large and well organised. Some are local but others had come from Durban and had set up bases in cheap hotels around Sea Point.
While many of the targeted machines are in the city centre, Green Point and Sea Point, there had been reports of scammers working as far afield as Lakeside, Simon’s Town, the Strand and Steenberg Village.
One gang has been targeting the busy FNB ATM at the intersection of Buitensingel, Long and Kloof streets near the Long Street baths.
Weekend Argus has footage of suspected members of the gang approaching clients to distract them to get their pin numbers or to swop cards to clone them.
One foreign couple allegedly lost e15 000 (R139 700) at an ATM a few months ago.
A security officer says the well-dressed gang has been operating at the ATM for the past five months.
“They are here all the time – day and night, especially at weekends when it is very busy.”
He says they arrive in expensive cars and hang around the ATM in groups of two or three.
“One will put a card into the machine and move away, waiting for a client to arrive.”
They appear to use a skimming device attached to the ATM. Fraudsters adopting this method use miniature cameras placed on or around the ATM to record card PIN numbers as the client punches them in.
Another hot spot is the Standard Bank in Main Road, Green Point, directly opposite Cape Town Stadium.
Taxi driver Mogamat Salie Abrahams described a similar scenario with gang members looking for “easy pickings”.
He said it was just a matter of time before someone got hurt.
“We’re worried it will end up in a shoot-out. At night some taxi drivers watch these guys from our cars.”
Abrahams said the gangs operated in groups of three or four. “One will be a look-out, one will stay in the car, and another will force his way right into the ATM,” he said.
He said the ATMs at the BP garage in Somerset Road were also popular with syndicates.
“There are a lot of nightclubs around and people drink so they are easy targets.”
In a piece which appeared in London’s Daily Mail last Saturday, journalist David Jones said he had been robbed of his wallet and passport in South Africa before, and decided this time not to bring much cash with him, or even travellers’ cheques.
“But I had been in South Africa for only a few days when I was alerted by text that my credit card was being used at cash-points all over town and I’d been fleeced of £1 300 (about R14 600),” wrote Jones.
“I still have the card, but it seems someone had cloned it and copied the pin number.
“As a journalist, I have travelled to more than 100 countries and no one has stolen so much as a brass washer from me. Yet I have been to South Africa half a dozen times now, and it has happened twice.”
Tasso Evangelinos, CEO of the Central City Improvement District, said crime at ATMs was a big problem. Gangs were run by professional syndicates. “They sit in their cars and pick and choose clients.”
Evangelinos said there were allegations that bank security guards were involved in some cases.
The CID has arrested several suspects and confiscated skimming machines in recent weeks.
Mark Reeler of the Oranje-Kloof CID said about four months ago a foreign couple lost e15 000 from their account after being either conned or having their card cloned at the FNB ATM in Buitensingel Street.
Steve Higgins, FNB spokesman, said they had not received complaints about that specific ATM but would now institute additional surveillance and security. They were aware of crimes at other nearby sites and had taken security precautions.
Higgins said that a scammer had to obtain access to the card to copy information on the magnetic strip, and also had to view the PIN.
“A hand-held device is used to copy the magnetic strip. This information is then copied on to a blank card and the blank card is used to withdraw money at an ATM,” said Higgins.
Erik Larsen, spokesman for the Standard Bank, recently told Weekend Argus they had not noticed any recent upsurge in card-cloning cases.
The police source said some of the banks employed guards but they were often threatened by syndicate members.
“There is no police unit really focused on ATM fraud, which means these guys will go ballistic during the World Cup.”
Police spokesman Warrant Officer November Filander confirmed the ATM in Buitensingel Street was popular with syndicates because of the presence of tourists.
He said there were more than 3 000 ATMs in the Western Cape, making it difficult to monitor them all.
Fraudsters also got card information from accommodation establishments.
“What is also popular is waiters who process card transactions then keep the card details of the client and later process manual transactions and pocket the money.”
He said people should cover their PINs with their hands or wallet when using an ATM and check for any attachments on the machine, which were usually fitted with double-sided tape.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 5 June 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201006070158.html?viewall=1