Harte urges public to beware of ATM skimmers

Newry Sinn Féin councillor Valerie Harte has warned members of the public to be alert to the possibility of skimming apparatus on local ATM machines after she was contacted by a constituent affected by this crime.

Speaking to Newry Times Harte explained,

“I was contacted by a Newry woman who had been contacted by her bank over the weekend following abnormal activity on her bank account. The bank in question informed this lady that her card had been used to purchase mobile phone credit, theatre tickets and overseas travel.”

“The fact that the mobile phone credit was for a different network to direct debit details already on the lady’s account raised concerns at the bank and all transactions were stopped. Thankfully this was nipped in the bud, however it is worrying for consumers that this type of crime can occur so easily, particularly given that so many people make card transactions instead of cash for purchases.”

She added, “I contacted the bank to query whether the skimming may have taken place over this lady’s recent transactions but I was informed that the card may have been skimmed many months ago but only recently used. I would urge members of the public to pay attention to ATM machines in particular and if they see anything untoward on the machine to contact the police immediately.”

Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=20006

Posted by Newry Times News on Jul 24 2012. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry