Attempted Bank Card Robbery at Addiscombe ATM - Louise Riley Croydon High

Colin Mitchell, 76, was simply taking money out of an ATM outside the Lower Addiscombe Road Co-operative, when a hand reached over his shoulder and held a piece of paper up to the card reader, a moment after he had put in his PIN number. On the paper, the victim saw there was some kind of code that cancelled the transaction and ejected the card from the machine, so it could physically be taken later on. 

At first, the victim did not realise the card had been expelled from the machine. Thankfully the attacker did not manage to take it, as a woman had pointed out the card on the floor a short while after the thief had gone. Even so, it is possible he managed to take a photograph of it before he left. Soon after the victim arrived home, he called a bank and it transpired that the card had already been linked to an Apple Pay account. However this could have been the result of online fraud before the event took place.

Fortunately, there were lots of people around at the time and the victim could fight back, so after some back and forth arguing, the thief left.

A woman who had just left the shop and was waiting outside said that she had seen the offender at the same ATM attempting to steal bank cards before. 

When asked what can people do to prevent these things happening again, Colin said this is a “warning tale”, and to “Always be vigilant and stand very close to the machine so people can’t steal money”. Other things he mentioned were: if you are able to, put a contactless limit on your cards so that if your card has been stolen but you haven’t realised, nobody can purchase anything without a pin number. 

If you are concerned about your safety whilst taking money out at an ATM, you could try to use ones that are inside of banks, or that are usually quite busy. If you think you may have been a victim of a card scam - online or in person - contact your bank; they have the power to control what comes in or goes out of your account.