Scammers are targeting town's unguarded ATMs

Date: 09 July 2016 By: Isabel Venter

Residents using ATMs are warned to be extra vigilant against scammers who are active in the Louis Trichardt area.

Especially pensioners should be more aware of their surroundings when withdrawing money at cash machines. Scammers, the newspaper has learnt, are not only targeting the elderly, but also cash loan business owners who go to withdraw money on the various paydays.

Although, when the newspaper dug a bit deeper, it seems that the scammers will target just about anybody to “earn a quick buck.”

First the newspaper only heard rumours about the activities of these thugs. They would allegedly strike on public holidays or Sundays. In the case of cash loan businesses, the thieves would wait in lay – after hours – to strike when the owners would come to the ATMs and deposit their day’s money.

When the Makhado Police were approached for comment, they could only find record of one reported case at the beginning of June, reported at one of the Capitec ATMs. “We also know that there are these people going around and stealing MoneyMarket transfers from people, more specifically at Spar and Shoprite in town,” said local police spokesperson W/O Kedibone Mbatha.

Still not satisfied, the newspaper went through the court records at the Louis Trichardt District Court in search of evidence and found the shocking story of Mr Magiel Jacobs, a Louis Trichardt resident.

Jacobs told the newspaper that he was withdrawing money on Freedom Day (27 April) this year at the FNB ATM in the Checkers complex (corner of Munnik and Songozwi streets). He recalls that the whole scam happened in a matter of seconds.

Jacobs was waiting his turn to withdraw money at the ATM. When it was his turn, Jacobs proceeded to put his bank card into the machine when the man who had been there before him returned to retrieve his printout. Jacobs suspects it was then that his bank card was swiped. The man was leaning over him to retrieve the piece of paper and was fiddling around with the ATM.

Still unsuspecting, Jacobs returned to continue with his transaction, but it was declined. While he was still busy figuring out what was going on, he received an SMS notification that R12 000 had been withdrawn from his account. He immediately notified his bank to cancel his card, but even while he was still busy, he received another notification that somebody had purchased Game store vouchers worth R15 000. With the help of the local Game store manager the vouchers of R5 000 each were cancelled and all the other Game stores in the province notified.

Soon afterwards, two suspects were arrested when they tried to purchase electrical goods at the Game store in Polokwane. The two suspects, Charles Libenga Khumalo (42) and Mario Jodylone Moon (36), alleged that they had bought the vouchers for a reduced price from some random strangers who had approached them on the street.

After their arrest in April they both received bail and since then have appeared in the district court several times on a single count of fraud each.

Jacobs this week said that he was approached by the investigating officer in the case, stating that Moon and Khumalo said that they would repay his money if he was willing to withdraw the charge against them. Jacobs was not keen on accepting such a proposal and said that the law must run its course. Moon and Khumalo will appear before court again on 29 July, when the case against them is expected to be finalized.

While the newspaper was busy with Jacobs’s story, another resident, Ina Ras, became the next victim of a gang of scammers. She spoke to the Zoutpansberger this week about her ordeal, when scammers stole R3 000 from her account while she was busy withdrawing money from the Standard Bank ATM in Songozwi Street (next to Midas). In her case, the scammers faked a robbery of someone’s cell phone in the street. Ina suspects that while she was distracted the scammers placed a “dummy” device over the ATM keyboard that recorded her PIN when she tried to withdraw money again.

“There was a message on the screen that said ‘voucher pin not authorised’,” Ina said. “Fortunately, my daily limit on my account is low, and I don’t have that much money in my account, but still - it is blood money, money you have worked hard to earn and now it is just gone,” said Ina.

Her husband, Dawid, wrote a warning on his Facebook page, to which another resident in town, Arthur Klusmann, made known that he had also become a victim of scammers, who stole R9 000 from his account at the Checkers FNB ATMs.

It would seem that the scammers prefer the FNB ATMs because there are periods when no security guards are present. FNB’s communications head office responded this week to the newspaper’s enquiries and emailed a list of warning signs to be on the lookout for. They were unwilling to indicate how many of their clients have been scammed or to release video footage from the ATMs because of legal issues and to protect their clients’ interests.

It is for this reason that readers are encouraged to report scammer’s activities to the newspaper, so that others might be warned to be vigilant where the thugs are most active. A short summary of what had happened can be forwarded to the Zoutpansberger via WhatsApp on Tel 073 349 1587 or by writing an e-mail to [email protected] or [email protected] or phoning the newspaper’s office during office hours at Tel 015 516 4996/7.

In the meantime, the local FNB branch has appointed a security guard to ward off future scammers.

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Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

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