By: Veantha Naidoo

A Chatsworth woman was recently scammed, after her bank card was jammed in an ATM machine at the Checkout Supermarket earlier this week.

The incident occurred during the day, when Hilda Govender, was trying to withdraw money in the store.

Govender said, “I was standing in the queue to withdraw money when, a neatly dressed manapproached me to collect his receipt that he had left behind.

By that time I had already inserted my card and pin number. However my card was jammed in the machine and did not want to come out. The man then came back punched in a few digits and walked away, I was so flustered that I did not realise what was happening.”

She added that when she arrived home she received many bank alerts on her phone saying that a large sum of money had been withdrawn.

Store Manager, Abdul Khan said, “This is the first time that an incident of this nature has taken place and we hope to improve our security, so that our customers feel safe.”

Shane Moodley, spokesperson of the Chatsworth SAPS said, “Many criminals are now using this new trend to take out money from a person’s bank account. They skim your device to get
your banking or account details.”

Moodley added that the public needs to be more aware of their surroundings and who is around them, when withdrawing money.

“Criminals are most likely to prey on the elderly so it is important to be more vigilant as nowadays it is very easy for a fraudster to clone your bank card,” Moodley said