Warning about 'shoulder surfers'

The warning comes from DUP Assembly member Stephen Moutray.

Mr Moutray said: “Police are currently investigating a number of incidents involving skimming devices in counties Down and Armagh over the past couple of weeks. Criminals skim cards in order to clone them so that they can then steal money from the victims’ bank account.

“Various attachments can be made to cash machines for these criminal purposes. One variation involves attaching false fronts with built-in magnetic strip readers to cash machines and using pinhole cameras to extract the PIN as well as the data on the magnetic strip.”

He added: ”I would urge members of the public to be on their guard and if they see something attached to an ATM which looks out of place don’t touch it and stop the transaction. They should then immediately alert the PSNI together with their bank.”

“People should also be aware of the threat posed by so-called ‘shoulder surfers.’ This is when criminals ‘shoulder surfs’ to look over your shoulder to steal your pin code or other details. I would urge people to make sure they hide their pin number while at an ATM as criminals may be watching.”