Stone residents have been warned to take extra care when using cashpoints in the town following incidents at the machines outside Morrisons.
The warning came from new Stone PC Daniel Ferguson, who updated Stone Town Council on Tuesday night (14th May) about crime issues in the town.
He said that police believe a group of “Eastern Europeans” (the meeting was told that they have information leading them to this conclusion) have been targeting the cashpoints at Morrisons by attaching a small device. Victims’ cards are ‘swallowed’ by the machine, but the criminals return and can retrieve them – and pin numbers.
Always check a cashpoint for anything unusual and always shield the keypad when entering your pin number. Report any concerns to the bank immediately. It’s worth paying particular attention to the slot where the card is inserted. Some cash machines now have a picture of what the slot and keypad are supposed to look like, so that users can identify any foreign devices attached.
1 comment
Edward Langdon
The next step in this routine, once people get wise to the card swallowing, is to attach a small curved piece of plastic to the cash dispenser (usually at bottom of machine), when you withdraw cash, it rolls back inside the plastic attachment, appearing as if the cash was not dispensed at all.
Almost only attempted at weekends when the banks are shut.
Easier to avoid being tricked if you know what the tricks are 😉