Police are investigating claims that scammers attached skimmers to a Lombard Bank ATM in Sliema. Photo: Chris Sant FournierNiklas Nyman was falling asleep when his mobile phone started beeping repetitively as he received a string of text messages notifying him that money was deducted from his account from outlets in India and the US.
The Swedish man drowsily ignored the content of the messages as bogus and drifted off to sleep – oblivious to the fact that a fraudster had skimmed his credit card when, earlier that day, he withdrew money from a Lombard Bank ATM in Dingli Street, Sliema.
But the next morning, the reality of the situation kicked in – his Visa account had been breached and thousands of euros stolen.
Card skimming is the illegal copying of information from the magnetic strip of a credit or debit card. Skimming devices are sometimes placed on ATMs or even held in the hands of waiters and store employees and used when they swipe a card.
When a credit card is run through a skimmer, the device stores the credit card information, which is then used by thieves to make fraudulent charges.
When Mr Nyman, 29, who works in Sliema, realised what may have happened he headed straight to HSBC, where he had his account, and showed them the text messages. The bank immediately cancelled his card and sent a dispute to Visa International to look into the matter as Mr Nyman remembered he had cashed money from Lombard’s ATM.
A spokesman for Lombard Bank told Times of Malta the matter had been referred to police.
Questions sent to police remained unanswered.
Don’t fall victim…
• Check your accounts regularly to spot any transactions you are unaware of;
• Keep an eye on your credit card when it is being swiped at a shop or restaurant;
• Before using an ATM, make sure there are no devices attached to it;
• Cover your hand while keying in your PIN in case scammers attached cameras to the machine;
• Have two or more bank accounts one for keeping your money and one to transfer the money to whenever a card transaction is needed.