First National Bank (FNB) and the South African Police Service have busted a card-skimming ring which has been defrauding unsuspecting customers of thousands of rands.
Eleven members of the gang were arrested on Tuesday.
Jan Kruger, of FNB's Group Forensic Department, says the gang's kingpin had several runners working for him. A runner could target a restaurant, for example, by getting waiters to skim cards through a small card-skimmer.
A few days later, the runner would return the skimmer to the kingpin, who would download the magstripe information on to a computer. The information was then sent overseas, Kruger says.
The restaurants to be targeted would be changed every week so that there was no pattern for investigators to trace. This could have potentially allowed the scam to operate for a long time.
FNB has the following advice to help customers protect themselves from becoming victims of fraud:
- Always make sure you can see your card. Follow the waiter when he or she takes your card from you, no matter how inconvenient it may be for you.
- FNB debit and credit card customers should register for inContact, which provides free notification by SMS every time your card is used.