Last updated at 14:07, Tuesday, 01 May 2012

Alison Bernard, her husband Andrew and her sister Andrea Greenup were taking their children for a day out and stopped off at their nearest cash machine to withdraw some money.

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Within a few hours they discovered they had all been targeted by fraudsters.

Criminals had fitted a sophisticated “skimming” device to the Cumberland Building Society cash dispenser at the Kingstown branch in Carlisle.

The device gathered all the details from their cards – and the fraudsters planned to use the information to empty their accounts.

Thankfully the building society realised the machine had been tampered with and their accounts were frozen before that happened.

But they got quite a fright. “It was very worrying,” recalls Mrs Bernard, from Etterby. “I had heard about it but it had never happened to any of us before.

“The building society moved very quickly, so it was a huge relief that no money was taken.”

The Cumberland has now issued them with new cards and new PIN numbers.

The mum of two says: “It was more an inconvenience for a while. But I’ve been checking my balance every couple of days since!”

Mrs Bernard and her family are not alone.

Three other cash machines in Carlisle have been interfered with in the last week. The NatWest machine in The Lanes shopping centre, the RBS machine at Morrisons supermarket on Kingstown Road and the Santander cash dispenser at the Co-op on Wigton Road have all been targeted by would-be fraudsters.

The police insist that this type of crime is very rare in Cumbria – in 2011 there were only eight such incidents in the entire year and in 2010 there were only two. So to have half of last year’s total within one week has been an unpleasant surprise.

“Four in a week is extremely unusual,” admits crime prevention officer Claire Stevens.

“I can’t remember a time when we’ve had so many.”

Nor is it confined to Carlisle. In February a woman discovered thousands of pounds had gone missing from her bank account after using the Co-op cash machine in Brampton.

Mrs Stevens adds: “It’s a country-wide crime unfortunately, so it is possible that people are coming from Scotland or from the south to target Cumbria.”

If it is rare here it’s nothing new. Cash machines, like banks and building societies, have been targeted by thieves for years.

The main danger users face has always been “shoulder surfing”. Someone in the queue behind will stand close enough to peer over your shoulder and watch as you enter your PIN. Then your pocket will be picked and your card stolen.

It’s still a danger that the police warn against. But since then the criminals have become a lot more sophisticated, focusing on the machines rather than the customers themselves, with the techniques of card-trapping and skimming.

It was card-trapping that was tried at Morrisons and in The Lanes. It is done using a loop – a very thin plastic strip with a lip inserted into the card slot.

The strip prevents the card from coming out, so it appears to have been swallowed by the machine. The criminals are then able to pull the card out by the lip.

Or there is skimming. All the data on your cash card is contained in the magnetic strip that runs along the back. Skimming devices attached to the front of the ATM copy all that data, which can then be transferred onto a counterfeit card.

They are usually coupled with a miniature pinhole camera or hidden mobile phone concealed above the keypad, recording as customers enter their PIN. This was the technique used at the Cumberland Building Society in Kingstown and the Santander machine on Wigton Road.

One other technique is to jam the cash dispensing slot, so that customers think the machine is faulty and leave. The criminals then remove the jam – and the cash. It’s a technique which has not been reported in Carlisle recently but has been used in south Cumbria, at ATMs in Bowness, Ambleside and Windermere.

But how do you know whether a cash machine has been tampered with? The main advice from police is to be wary of any machine that looks unusual, and if you have any suspicions about it, don’t use it.

However Mrs Stevens admits there are often few tell-tale signs. The most professional skimming devices are moulded from genuine machines to fit over them perfectly. And as Mrs Bernard points out: “We didn’t notice anything different about the Cumberland machine.”

Mrs Stevens explains: “Some of them are very crude devices put over the front, even attached with velcro. Others recreate the whole frontage of a cash machine, and it can be very difficult to tell in some cases.”

But she does advise: “See if its appearance has changed since you last used it. If you do see anything untoward, do not use the machine and report it to the bank and police immediately.”

Skimming devices are usually home-made by criminals, with components that can all be bought legitimately.

Doriena Koldenhof of the Payments Council says the cleverest of them are always well concealed, and agrees with Mrs Stevens that one of the few signs of tampering is whether the machine looks at all different since you last used it.

“Nothing should come off a cash machine or seem loose, and obviously there should be no wires hanging from it.

“Wiggle it about a bit and if it does seem loose then don’t use it.”

TOP TIPS...

The police have issued a series of simple measures which all cash machine users should bear in mind.

First of all, take care when choosing a cash machine and report anything unusual about it to the bank and the police immediately.

Secondly, be aware of others around you. Stand close to the cash machine and always shield the keypad while you enter your PIN. If someone close to the cash machine is behaving suspiciously, makes you feel uncomfortable or is crowding you at the machine, then stop.

“Most ordinary members of the public wouldn’t be hovering over your shoulder when you’re taking money out of a cash machine,” Mrs Stevens says.

“Don’t get into a confrontation with them or ask them to stand back. Just press ‘cancel’, walk away and find another machine.”

Likewise, give other people space at cash machines and allow them to enter their PIN in private. The police guideline is to stand about two metres away from the user in front of you until they have finished.

And beware of apparently well-meaning strangers offering you help. Never allow yourself to be distracted by anyone – as that is when you are most likely to have your pocket picked.

Once you have completed the transaction, put your money and card away before leaving the cash machine.

And dispose of any receipts or mini-statements carefully, by tearing them up or ideally putting them through a shredder.

If you’re taking money out during office hours it could be safer to use one of the cash dispensers inside the branch. “They are probably more covered by the staff,” Mrs Stevens says. “That’s not to say that criminals won’t have gone into the branches – but they are less likely to have been tampered with.

“People should not be worried to use cash machines, but by being more vigilant and aware, we can make it more difficult for criminals to carry out these crimes – and reduce the number of people becoming a victim.”

More advice is available on the police website at www.cumbria.police.uk or by calling 101 and asking to speak to your local crime prevention officer.

The Safety Council’s website at www.cardwatch.org.uk offers extra tips.

First published at 11:25, Tuesday, 01 May 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk