Alleged card skimmer faces court

By Ry Crozier on Mar 4, 2010 12:47 PM
Filed under Security

Queensland Police say they caught Romanian man trying to skip the country.

A 36-year-old Romanian national has been extradited from Queensland to Sydney on ATM-skimming charges - the second such extradition from the state in as many months.

He was arrested at Southport in Queensland yesterday. It will be alleged he was attempting to leave the country on a chartered boat.

NSW Police successfully applied to extradite the man.

He was taken to Surry Hills Police Station in central Sydney and charged with two counts of making and possessing implements for making false instruments.

The charges related to alleged frauds in Hornsby on December 20, 2009 and Burwood on January 5, 2010.

He was refused bail and will appear at the Central Local Court today.

It was the latest in a string of robberies:

Last week, NSW Police seized an ATM card skimming device in Sydney's inner west following a tip-off from a security guard.
Last month, Victorian Police extradited a 31-year-old Malaysian man from Brisbane who was believed to be linked to a card skimming syndicate.
NSW Police charged six people in January over a major eftpos terminal skimming scam in Sydney.
Compromised EFTPOS devices in Perth last October reportedly netted criminals $150,000.
Last March, thieves used ATM skimming devices to steal as much as $500,000 from a terminal in the Melbourne CBD.

A NSW Police spokesman told iTnews it had previously arrested "a number of Romanian nationals" in connection with alleged ATM skimming offences.

Investigations on these and other similar incidents were continuing via Strike Force Mail.

2 comments in this discussion

"The banks ought come clean and advise customers when their cards HAVE been used in a period of discovered skimming. Currently, the banks try so hard to play it all down (it's customers money ..."

By Graeme Harrison (prof at-symbol post.harvard.edu)

Tags

atm, fraud, scam, nsw, card, skimming, victoria, melbourne, westfield, spree, crime

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Comments: 2

unclebigdave

Mar 4, 2010 6:46 PM

i hope he gets 20 years with no parole.

I've been skimmed twice and it didnt make me happy at all.

but what gets me the angriest - with all the revenue raised by the banks theiving ATM fees - they could install covert HIGH DEFINITION cameras at EVERY ATM in australia .. believe it or not - motion sensitive software is actually advanced enough these days to accurately detect "suspicious activity"
it irks me to see "recorded footage" of ATMs being blown up on cheap $10 hardware shot @ 320x240 resolution rendering everything and everybody un-recognisable

Graeme Harrison (prof at-symbol post.harvard.edu)

Mar 7, 2010 12:16 AM

The banks ought come clean and advise customers when their cards HAVE been used in a period of discovered skimming.

Currently, the banks try so hard to play it all down (it's customers money that's being lost not theirs)... that they REFUSE to advise if your card was used at a suspicious ATM, or even a time when a known skimming device was in use.

I was phoned by Which Bank (I'll let you guess) and they said "As a security precaution, you ought change your PIN." I replied "Well, do you know that my account has suspicious transactions, or was used at an ATM that had been compromised... or is this just a general call saying one ought change PINs from time to time?"

The caller could not tell me. I asked if I could speak to his manager. The manager said he did not know if any card was compromised. He said he was just in a telemarketing company that had been contracted by a bank to make the calls, and all the bank provides is a list of names and phone numbers, with standard text to say.

I then asked who I could ask within the bank, as I'd do completely different things if my card WAS compromised, or if I should expect sus transactions on it over coming months... and I'd tend to do nothing if it was just a general reminder. The manager could not tell me who within the bank might have that information.

Two days later the Sydney Morning Herald published my letter saying that the banks need to come clean on security breaches and PROPERLY advise those affected.

And I agree with unclebigdave that the banks could also do with some proper security cameras that give proper identification of suspicious users of ATMs.

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