KARACHI: A CCTV footage has emerged showing schemers installing a skimming device inside an ATM machine located in the city’s DHA area.
The video shows two suspects, reportedly a Pakistani and a Chinese, fitting the device on the ATM machine during bank hours, in a skimming fraud that has cost hundreds of citizens in Pakistan millions of rupees over a couple of weeks.
The video is dated November 16, 2017, and shows the suspects installing the skimming device from 4:21 pm onwards.
The bank officials, after taking note of the footage, replaced the affected ATM machine and handed over the footage to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for investigation.
According to the FIA, skimmers withdrew money using data from 579 ATM cards. They accessed the accounts by placing skimming devices in different ATMs.
Account holders only came to know of the theft after being informed by their respective banks, the agency said.
The FIA has started probing into the matter under the Cyber Crimes Act. FIA Director Sindh Amir Ahmed Sheikh said that four such skimming cases were detected over the past year, which led to the arrest of three people. The aforementioned accused used to fit a skimming device in the cardholder slot of the ATM machine, which obtained the users’ card data. The device was also fitted with a camera, which revealed the users’ password to them.
In a TV interview, Amir Sheikh said the FIA had not been notified of the latest fraud; the agency acted on its own accord after taking note of the matter.
