Have been receiving emails regards to frauds through Automated Teller Machine (ATM). The latest that I received is as follows;
Warning from Bank Negara!!
Dear All, For your information. This is true and already happen in Kota Kinabalu so be careful.
Please give wide publicity !Bank ATM ' s Converted to Steal IDs of Bank Customers
A team of organized criminals are installing equipment on legitimate bank ATM ' s in at least 2 regions to steal both the ATM card number and the PIN . The team sits nearby in a car receiving the information transmitted wirelessly over weekends and evenings from equipment they install on the front of the ATM (see photos) . If you see an attachment like this, do not use the ATM and report it immediately to the bank using the phone on the front of the ATM .
The equipment used to capture your ATM card number and PIN are cleverly disguised to look like normal ATM equipment . A ' skimmer ' is mounted to the front of the normal ATM card slot that reads the ATM card number and transmits it to the criminals sitting in a nearby car .
At the same time, a wireless camera is disguised to look like a leaflet holder and is mounted in a position to view ATM PIN entries
The thieves copy the cards and use the PIN numbers to withdraw thousands from many accounts in a very short time directly from the bank ATM .
Equipment being installed on front of existing bank card slot .
The equipment as it appears installed over the normal ATM bank slot
The PIN reading camera being installed on the ATM is housed in an innocent looking leaflet enclosure ..
The camera shown installed and ready to capture PIN ' s by looking down on the keypad as you enter your PIN
By seeing the probe that shown in this pictures, i would say that it is 100% possible. In fact there was an occasion in somewhere in the3 90’s a smaller probe was fixed on to the ATM card feeder.
After the a few hours the culprit will collect back the probe and connects it to their computer and retrieve the data from the probe. Bank’s were forced to step up their securities at that time and fix the problem by placing a special fixtures in front of the ATM card reader.
I would suggest all ATM user’s be very cautious when performing their transactions;
1. Look for any anonymity on the ATM hardware. Usually you can detect the difference of any new hardware fixtures attached to the old ones.
2. Quality of the hardware cover will not be the same as the original ATM as the fraudsters will try to minimize their operating cost by using cheap materials.
3. Look for anyone suspicious around the area of the machine doing nothing.
