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Camden News - by PAUL KIELTHY
Published: 11 September 2008

ATTACK OF THE CLONES

Criminal gangs scam thousands of pounds from cash points

CARD clone gangs are scamming thousands of pounds while a loophole in police rules means ‘victims’ go unrecorded.
Criminals are withdrawing money from cashpoints in Canada, Egypt, Australia and the USA using card details stolen from shoppers in Kentish Town and Camden Town.
And because police do not record the crime, the scale of the fraud is only being revealed by dozens of residents who have contacted the New Journal since a report on cashpoint crime last week.
Residents Tony Wood and his wife were both robbed after using a machine in Kentish Town Road. He said: “We have both used a number of cashpoints on Kentish Town Road- and when we got our statement it said that there had been lots of fraudulent payments in Canada. It feels like a big scam to us – it amounted to well over four figures.”
Victim Kathy Taylor, whose daughter and son-in-law were also caught out by the fraud after using ATMs in Kentish Town, said: “It is fair enough that we get our money back but that doesn’t mean that this should just be ignored.
“You have to go to a lot of trouble to call the bank and deal with this and you are definitely still a victim.
“You should not be afraid to use these cashpoints, but at the moment I just don’t think it is safe.”
Because banks generally compensate their customers if they have been caught up in a card fraud, police do not usually carry out an investigation.
A Camden police spokeswoman explained: “If a card is cloned and the cardholder’s bank reimburses the individual, the bank is the ‘victim’. The bank will conduct their own enquiries and if they have sufficient information, will inform police who will conduct a subsequent investigation.
“If a bank chooses not to reimburse the cardholder and the individual chooses to inform police, the individual is the ‘victim’ and the incident is investigated.”
High street banks recommend that if customers are in any doubt about cashpoints they should use those machines that are available in branches and which are more likely to be fitted with anti-fraud devices.
card fraud, police do not usually carry out an investigation.
A Camden police spokeswoman explained: “If a card is cloned and the cardholder’s bank reimburses the individual, the bank is the victim. The bank will conduct their own enquiries and, if they have sufficient information, will inform police who will conduct a subsequent investigation.
“If a bank chooses not to reimburse the cardholder and the individual chooses to inform police, the individual is the victim and the incident is investigated.”
High street banks advise that if customers are in any doubt about cashpoints they should use those in branches.

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