Bank card and PIN thefts soar

Attempts to steal bank cards and PIN codes from people while they are using cash machines have tripled over the past year.

According to Financial Fraud Action UK, there were 7,525 incidents in the first four months of this year, compared with 2,553 in the similar period in 2012 with the numbers increasing every month.

The BBC reports that police officers say the rise is partly because more secure chip-and-pin cards have reduced the opportunities for hi-tech fraud. This means thieves have returned to the practice of ‘shoulder surfing’ (looking over a person`s shoulder while they key in their pin number at cash machines and then distract them as the card comes out of the ATM with a view to stealing it).

In an interview with the BBC, the head of the dedicated cheque and plastic crime unit, Detective Chief Inspector Dave Carter said the introduction of more secure chip-and-pin cards and better designed cash machines make it harder for criminal gangs to use equipment to copy the details on cards.

“This equipment is difficult to get hold of, it`s obviously illegal to possess it. It tends to be quite hi-tech and therefore it`s expensive,” he said.

However, tricking bank customers out of their cards, depends on the tried-and-tested techniques of petty crime and card providers are concerned that a lot of customers still do not bother to take precautions such as shielding the keypad when entering their PINs.