After doing some shopping in Tesco on Bounds Green Road, I spotted two men getting off a car by the school zebra crossing. I immediately could sense they were acting suspiciously so I took their registration number. In less than a minute they returned to the car and drove away whilst a poor lady who had just used the cashpoint seemed to be running after them. At that point, I spotted a member of staff from Tesco running and  trying to find out which direction they had gone.  I met him on the corner by the pub and told him I had taken the car details.  When the guy from Tesco was taking all the details, the car returned and the two men got off the car. They started walking towards us shouting and asking me why I had taken the registration number. It was so terrifying that we only had time to run back into Tesco before the men could reach us. I had to stay in the supermarket for a bit until the person I had given the details to walked me home. 

On the way home, he told me there are gangs that operate in the area and install some skimming devices that record your PIN and retain the card. They usually leave a member of the gang behind keeping an eye on the cashpoint. This person lets his accomplices know when the cashpoint has been used so that they can go back and retrieve the card as soon as they can, before the victim has time to cancel it.  On this occasion, it seems that the accomplice overheard when I was giving the car details to the guy from Tesco and informed his mates who came back to intimidate us. Obviously, they were not too far away because they were waiting for their first victim to use the cashpoint today. We worked out the man was someone who had been standing outside the pub all the time. The guy from Tesco told me he is really fed up of this situation because that cashpoint has been targetted many times and he knew straight away what had happened when he saw the lady was distressed.  He said people should avoid using that cashpoint. When I got home, I contacted the police to give them the details.

Please read the following  information about how this type of fraud works and share it with your friends and family:

https://www.commbank.com.au/personal/apply-online/download-printed-...

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/cms/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/LI...

In the meantime, I am not planning to leave home this weekend. The whole situation left me really shaken! However, if something like that happened again,  I would take the registration number and report them again.

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Thanks for sharing this Tata. Sorry you had such a scary experience!

Thanks so much for posting that - I hope you're ok. Deirdre

Yes thanks for sharing Tata.  The free cashpoint is good for the community - not to have free cashpoints within reasonable walking distance is negative for local people and businesses (as anyone who lives in a 'cashpoint wasteland' will confirm) and it's a good thing that installing them is something  that the major supermarkets are compelled to do as a social benefit when granted planning permission.  We should be doing what we can to protect them as a social amenity by making the police aware of any bad behaviour and we shouldn't be tolerating abuse in any form.

Thanks a lot for your replies. I am still shaken by the whole experience and keep on checking the registration number of every single silver Toyota car I see in the area. 

The guy from Tesco told me the cashpoint has been targeted on several occasions and they have reported the issue to the police more than once but nothing has been done. In fact, trying to report what had just happened to the police was a very frustrating experience for me and I almost gave up. When I managed to do it in the end, the impression I got was that they were not interested in this type of crime.

When I need money, I go to the Post Office where I can withdraw money with my debit card free of charge. However, this is not always an option even with their new extended opening hours. I wish places like Tesco or the pub offered the option to get cashback.  

Thank you for sharing and saving us from getting caught by such horrible people.   Shame on the police for not doing anything.

What next - blaming nurses for the state of the NHS? Where the 'shame' actually belongs....

Police numbers in London at lowest level per head in 20 years

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