ATM Fraud - Keep alert!

I want to alert others that the ATM at Tesco's on Wood Green High Road was targeted and hacked into at the weekend by thieves. Debit cards appear to be retained because of a fault with the machine but in fact have been deliberately tampered with (using what is known as a 'Lebanese Loop') so that thieves can then retrieve the card and use it. This is the reason that you are told to cover your pin as someone was watching me without my noticing them.

In the three minutes it took me to cancel my card (not at the ATM but inside Tesco's), my card had been taken and used at a different ATM and money withdrawn from it. The manager of Tesco's (and also the police) tells me this is a regular occurrence so as a warning to others, keep your PIN covered, your bank's telephone number in your mobile contacts and cancel the card immediately before leaving the ATM!

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Permalink Reply by Ed Balleny on January 18, 2011 at 12:59

John, thanks for alerting us to this issue. Presumably as soon as you went inside Tesco to make the call they swooped, took the card out and then they managed to get to another cash machine to make a withdrawal. It seems strange that they didn't use that machine but I guess they didn't want you to come back and catch them. It seems impossible to protect yourself on this basis.

I imagine that there is CCTV recording available though to identify them. If this happened again presumably you would stay by the machine knowing that whoever came next to the machine was going to remove the "Lebanese Loop". I guess if they know you were there it could become confrontational.

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Permalink Reply by John Naughton on January 18, 2011 at 13:36

The card is of no use to them without the PIN, so do everything you can to ensure nobody else can see the numbers you tap in. I'm also told that the device can be removed quite easily and that it's worth checking the slot before you insert the card. A slight tug at the edge of it will confirm if it's been tampered with or not.

As and when it happens next time, I'll call the Bank whilst still at the ATM and cancel my card. At least that way it will prevent any money being withdrawn should it come into someone else's possession.