Posted online: Dec 21st, 2009

By Sinéad Flanagan
Editor

THOUSANDS of euros in cash have been stolen from unsuspecting members of the public, as the act of thieving account details from people at ATMs in Kildare is rocketing, according to a top garda source.
Not only this, but details are being swiped and used on the other side of the world, unknown to those who have just been virtually mugged.
Speaking to a man in Naas who had had his card skimmed twice in the past 10 days, he said: “I got a call (from a local bank) saying someone had presented themselves as me in Australia and had taken out €230.”
After getting a new card, a week later he was informed that almost €1,000 had been taken from his account through a laser transaction- one that he had known nothing about until he went to take out money.
A garda in Naas remarked “it’s wholesale at the moment. People are skimming the details and sending them off to people all over the world including Canada and Australia.”
Skimming occurs when bank card details are copied at an ATM, usually using a device that is slipped onto the machine that records details of each card that is put into the unit. While gardai in a number of divisions throughout the county are warning people to be very careful with their pin numbers and to always shelter it using their hand, it appears the thieving skimmers can still use the card details to fraudulently extract money from that person’s account without the pin.
Ronan Sheridan, spokesperson for AIB remarks that at this time of year, attempts to fraudulently extract money are always on the increase.
Mr Sheridan confirmed that an attempt had been made to tamper with the card pad outside the door of AIB Naas in November, which is used by account holders wishing to use the ATM inside the building outside of banking hours.