A device designed to trap bank cards and steal PIN numbers has been found fitted to a cash machine on Putney High Street.
The device, known as a “Lebanese loop,” is built to blend in with the real card slot. It is usually glued directly on top of it, with flaps that face inward so a card can go in but cannot come back out.
Police confirmed the device after a customer’s card was trapped late on Tuesday and did not return. The customer contacted police, who attended and logged the incident as fraud.
How the trap works
Once a card is trapped, the thief needs one more thing: the PIN. Thamesfield Safer Neighbourhoods officer PC Damian Catherall, who issued the warning, said this is usually done one of two ways. Someone nearby watches over the victim’s shoulder as they type it in. Or a hidden camera, concealed in what Catherall described as “a narrow strip of plastic” fixed to the top of the machine, films the keypad while the fraudster watches the footage remotely on their phone.
Once the victim gives up and walks away, the thief returns, retrieves the trapped card, and uses it with the stolen PIN.
PC Catherall has direct experience of exactly this crime. Years ago, he and a colleague caught a man red-handed retrieving a trapping device from a cash machine. His accomplice, a taxi driver, was watching the PIN entry by phone from a parked taxi nearby.
What to check before you use any machine
Before you use an ATM, you should carry out two quick and basic checks. First, look closely at the card slot before inserting your card. If anything looks stuck on, loose, or doesn’t quite match the rest of the machine, don’t use it. And second, cover the keypad with your hand while entering your PIN, regardless of who’s nearby.
If your card gets trapped, don’t walk away. Go straight into the bank branch, or phone your bank, to cancel the card. If it has just happened, call police on 101, or 999 if it’s happening in front of you.
To report fraud, contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or at reportfraud.police.uk.
It’s the third in an informal series of local fraud warnings from since December, including fake traffic wardens targeting residents near East Putney station.
I don’t need cash very often (who does?) but I always use an ATM inside a bank. Too easy to tamper with ones on the street.
I agree about using ATM inside the bank.
But regarding cash, I use it whenever I can… use it or lose it
This is good ‘news you can use’ journalism. Thank you.