Perth ATM users warned to be vigilant

Apr 23 2010 By Denis Brown, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

POLICE are warning Perth bank customers to exercise extreme caution following the discovery of two covert card-reading devices on ATMs.

Forensic officers are examining a bank card ‘skimmer’ that was discovered on a cashpoint machine at the High Street branch of Santander Bank at 9.30am on Monday (April 26).

A Tayside Police spokesman said investigators believed a second skimmer – which was not captured – had also been attached to a cash machine located in the pend at the Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) South Street branch.

“We’re advising anyone who used either of these ATMs during these times, and who may have noticed suspicious activity, with their bank accounts to contact their bank,” he said.

“Similarly, we’re also warning anyone using ATMs to be aware and to make sure that the machine looks as it should and has not been tampered with before inserting their card.

“At the moment, we are not aware of any bank customer whose account has been compromised.”

While the card reader at Santander went undetected after placement at 4pm on Saturday till 9.30am on Monday, police believe the skimmer on the RBS ATM was in place from midnight on Monday till 4.10pm next day.

An illegal practice, believed to have been imported to the UK from the European mainland, electronic skimming enables crooks to capture customers’ data from an ATM card’s magnetic stripe.

The discreet bank card reading devices are typically fastened adjacent to or on top of an ATM’s card reader but close inspection often reveals that the cash point’s flashing card entry indicator has been obscured.

“We’ve had instances of card skimming in Perth over previous years, but this is the first time for a while. It’s usually ‘travelling criminals’ who are responsible but they tend to move on quite quickly,” he said.

An RBS spokesman said the bank was working closely with police and other authorities to combat such fraud, adding that he concurred with the police view that the culprits were possibly from the European mainland.

As to the level of risk to customers who had used the potentially compromised RBS ATM, he said customers should contact their branch as soon as possible if they believed they had been victims of fraud.

“As with any case where fraud is alleged, we would investigate it,” he said.

“We’d advise our customers to be vigilant when using a cashpoint machine or carrying out any transaction.

“If they’re suspicious of anything they find at an ATM, they should contact their branch as soon as possible.”