During the past weeks fraudsters have been actively targeting shoppers across Bracknell and surrounding areas, who use either Credit or Debit cards to make payments by way of entering a 4 digit PIN at the point of sale or when withdrawing cash from an ATM or whilst trying to pay for Pay & Display parking using a bank card.
The offenders sometimes appear to be on their own but are likely to be working in small teams.
They often target female supermarket shoppers, taking note of the PIN as the victim taps it into the keypad at the till. They then follow the victim out into the car park where they either pickpocket the purse or wait until the handbag has been placed in the car at which time one offender will distract the victim whilst another offender opens the car and steals the purse. The offenders have then simply gone to an ATM at the same store and withdrawn as much cash as they can from the victims account before fleeing. And all before the victim is aware of the theft.
Other offenders interfere with ATMs (cash machines) using illegal devices that retain a victim’s bank card once it has been entered into the machine whist recording the PIN as the victim taps it into the keypad. The offenders then later retrieve the victim’s card and use it plus the PIN to obtain cash or purchases.
A recent development to this offence has been by offenders who have targeted individuals trying to pay for parking using their bank cards. Again the ticket machine is tampered with and fitted with an illegal device to withhold the victim’s card, the fraudster have been dressed in black clothing and purported to be a parking attendant and offering to help, but again obtain the victims PIN and later retrieve the card and withdraw large amounts of cash.
To prevent yourself from becoming a victim of these type of fraudsters remember the Golden Rules of;
- Never letting anyone see what your PIN is
- Never writing your PIN down
- Never saying your PIN out loud, to anyone
No one in any bank ever needs to know your PIN. No Police Officer or other legitimate investigator will ever need to know it, let alone any car park attendant. KEEP IT SECRET!
