Warning over bank card 'skimming'
Eastern European gangs are using new technology to skim bank cards at ATM machines around the country.
The Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation has seized dozens of the highly sophisticated devices, which include miniature digital cameras and fake keypads.
“We’ve only seen the new technology come in over the last 10 months. This is a new type of fraud taking place,” said Detective Inspector David Dowling.
The previous card skimming devices, such as the Lebanese Loup, were easier to spot because they held onto the bank customer’s ATM card so that the gang could retrieve it afterwards.
Gangs were also dependent on using spotters to discover what PIN number was being entered.
But the new card-skimming devices include fake keypads which are placed over the original and transmit the PIN number back to the gang, even if the customer is covering the keypad with his hand.
“You get your money and your card back and your receipt. Nobody knows (their card has been skimmed) until they get their bank account,” said Inspector Dowling.
There are also card skimming devices which contain mini-digital camcorders capable of recording up to 45 minutes of footage or digital video transmitters which can send footage of PINs being entered to a screen 200 meters away.
The gangs use laptop computers to download information from the devices and then create copies of the ATM cards to empty the person’s account.
The Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation (GBFI), which displayed some of the seized equipment at a conference in Clontarf Castle in Dublin today, estimate a number of Eastern European gangs are involved in the operation.
“They move in cells, with around 9-11 members in each cell. They are well organised and they could be here for a number of months,” said Inspector Dowling.
Bank customers have been warned to be wary of any ATM which appears to have been tampered with, even though the quality of the engineering makes some of the devices impossible to spot. The gangs are believed to be measuring the ATMs to get an exact-fit for the devices, spray-painting them the same colour and even sticking warning stickers about card skimming onto them.
All customers who are defrauded at cash machines are automatically compensated by the banks.
Inspector Dowling warned customers not to interfere with any suspicious devices on ATMs if they spotted them because of the risk from the gangs of up to six people lurking nearby.
“These devices cost a lot of money and in some cases violence has been used by the gangs if someone tries to remove them.”
In a recent case in Dublin, a bank customer was assaulted but not seriously injured by a gang for interfering with their ATM device.
The GBFI are working with the Irish Payment Services Organisation to devise new anti-fraud measures for ATMs.
Last month, six eastern Europeans were arrested in a series of raids in Leinster as part of a major garda investigation into ATM fraud.
