Town hit by card fraudsters
Saturday 10th November 2007, 6:00PM GMT.
International fraudsters have been cloning bank card details of people in Telford and withdrawing hundreds of pounds from cash machines in Germany.
Residents say they have been hit by the scam after using their debit and credit cards in the Madeley, Ketley and Wellington areas.
Banks have been contacting customers following cash withdrawals from ATMs in Germany.
Richard Rhodes, 72, from Madeley, and his 68-year-old wife Sybil, were told almost £300 had been taken from their account in Germany last Tuesday.
Although their bank, Lloyds TSB, has said it will repay the money, the couple’s daughter, Samantha Whitfield, 39, said they were now frightened of using the card in machines. She said they had only used their bank card in Madeley.
She said: “My mum was really upset and it really shook my dad up. It’s made them really wary.”
Builder Terry Lewis, from Madeley, was also called by his bank last week following an attempt to take almost £200 from his account last Tuesday, again in Germany.
The 29-year-old said he too had been using his card in Madeley.
Three withdrawals were made from cashpoints in Germany on November 2 and 3, with the money leaving her account on Wednesday this week.
Chris Ammonds, Telford police spokesman, confirmed officers received reports of these types of crimes, but said it was initially an issue for banks to investigate.
A spokeswoman for Lloyds TSB said, in a bid to tackle increasing card fraud, they had launched an alert scheme in March to warn customers of suspicious transactions.
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People hae to remember to check the cash machine they are using to withdraw money, and to make sure no one is behind them, it only takes a few seconds to check the cash maschine for anything that doesnt look right like an extended slot for the card or if its really tight when the card goes in, and to see if theres any lumps on the top of the cash machine just above the screen. if there is dont use the machine and alert the police straight away, if possible stick an out of order sign on it on paper so no one else gets caught. by the way the lumps are usaully cameras recording your pin number.
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This would be a much better article if it told the reader which retail outlets and/or ATMs the victims used and which are thought to have led to the compromise of their card details.
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I was a victim of this scam too!
My bank sent me a letter friday urging me to phone them, on doing so they asked me had i been to germany? To this i replied ” i’ve never left english turf mate” Only for him to advise me that my card was used in Germany with the amount of 200 Euro’s withdrawn from my account using my PIN number too! They put me overdrawn by a mile! luckily the bank realised something was wrong and blocked all my details, cards pin number! no charge for being over drawn too so although i was targeted, i had no problem with my bank in any way.
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What a wonderful response from our boys in blue!
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When using a HITW {hole in the wall} and entering your PIN, cover the hand tapping the numbers with the other hand. If the HITW has a miniature camera or false-front card skimmer, the PIN can’t be recorded.
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I’ve been hit too and the only place in Telford I’ve actually used my is the BP garage on Mound Way.
This is the second time in two months my partners card was cloned and again the suspect was a petrol filling station.
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Easy way to not be caught out…
Move to Natwest and use theirs.
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Don’t blame the local Police response on this.
The home office, ACPO and financial sectors put their heads together and agreed that the banks would investigate card fraud.
You will find it in the small print of the fraud Act 2006.
One can only imagine who`s interest they have at heart
When did it come into force xxx 1st April xxx if ever there was a sick joke?
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why move to natwest Daniel B,you will still have to use other cash machines and you can still have your card cloned, im with lloyds and Ive used loads of cash machines, including Natwest, but I dont recommend natwest, because a friend tried to take out £200 out of a natwest machine and it didnt have enough in the machine and still took out the money of his account.
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I agree with Yosemite Sam – this article would have been better if the cash machines used for cloning had been identified. At least this way, we get to protect ourselves a little more!
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i have also been the victim of a cloned card,my situation was written up in the paper on 10th Nov. i had £550.00 taken in total on the 2nd & 3rd of Nov,it had been withdrawn from various ATM’s in Germany. i currently bank with Halifax,i reported it on the 7th Nov it is now 17th Nov and have just received a questionnaire asking where i keep my cards, do i keep my pin with my card?????once this mess is eventually sorted i will be leaving Halifax,from what ive read it seems Lloyd’s tsb are switched on to fraud, i thought it was great customer service identifying the problem before their customers had even realized and immediately refunding the money plus bank charges!
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