A Grahamstown woman who lost more than R1000 in an ATM scam suspects that the two seemingly helpful strangers hanging around the ATMs are to blame.
A Grahamstown woman who lost more than R1000 in an ATM scam suspects that the two seemingly helpful strangers hanging around the ATMs are to blame.
The distraught teacher, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Grocott's Mail that when she went to draw money at the FNB ATM at the Shoprite Mall in Beaufort Street last Sunday afternoon, an unidentified man in the queue behind her asked if she could assist him to draw R20 at a nearby ATM.
Her 16-year-old daughter who was with her at the time went to help the man. When the woman's turn came to use the ATM she tried to draw cash, but the transaction failed a number of times.
As the teacher was about to leave, the woman who had previously been using the ATM came back, offering her assistance.
"I was not comfortable with the notion of her assisting me, especially now that she was just lurking around," she said.
"When the green light came on, I inserted my bank card again and inserted my pin code but nothing happened, so I went to the ATM near KFC," she said, but that was not working either and the woman and her daughter left.
But by then the damage had already been done, and she only became aware of this when she switched on her phone the following morning, and received the SMS-alert of the account transaction.
The text message from her bank informed her that money had been withdrawn from her account, and "I saw that an amount of more than R1000 was withdrawn at Bantam ATM that Sunday afternoon," she said.
The matter has been reported to the FNB bank, and she said that she will be reimbursed as soon as an investigation has been conducted by the Grahamstown SAPS.
