Police warning on cash point scam

POLICE have put the public on full alert following a series of cash point scams occurring across the county.
Warrington is just one of the town to be visited by fraudsters targeting cash machines positioned outside post offices, convenience stores and other outlets.
Key message from the police is for people to be on their guard before using a cash machine and to be alert to suspicious activity from any cash machine points.
There have been five incidents in Warrington, but the fraudsters have also been active in Runcorn, Frodsham, Knutsford, Winsford, Northwich and other places.
There have been 10 incidents in Chester alone.
Operation Astoria has been put in place by the Cheshire Police Economic Crime Unit to concentrate on crime related to ATMs (cash machines).
There are three mains ways the offenders operate.
1. Card skimming: using the video recording element of mobile telephones to capture the pin numbers of innocent ATM users.
2. Card Entrapment: The fraudster use an adapted mobile telephone to record the pin number being inputted by the victim but will use a device to trap the victims card once it has been placed into the machine. The victim usually believes that the card has been retained by the cash machine due to a problem – but the fraudster recovers the card and the pin number and is then ready to use it.
3. Cash trapping: The fraudster places a device over the area where the money is released from the cash machine. The device traps the money making the victim believe that the machine has a problem and is not releasing any funds. The fraudster will then collect the device and the money collected.
The North West accounts for fraud totalling £21 million – the second worst in the UK.
DC Tony Condon said: “There have been an increasing number of attacks on ATMs across Cheshire, where the fraudsters are using all three methods to obtain money from innocent victims. ATM users do not know they are victims until they realise their account balance has reduced more than normal.
“Our intelligence suggests that organised crime groups are responsible for the attacks and are of Eastern European origin.
“We are asking all members of the public to be vigilant when using a cash machine and to be aware of any suspicious activity around cash points, which may be an attempt to deploy a device.”
If anyone wants to report any suspicious activity, they should contact Cheshire Police on 101 or visit the fraud page at www.cheshire.police.uk
Picture: A cash machine that’s OK – and one that has been tampered with.