South African bank account-holders have been safeguarded from financial loss, after a joint operation by SA's specialist crime unit, the Hawks, the SA Revenue Service (SARS) and the banking industry in Johannesburg swooped on a duo of would-be ATM hackers over the weekend.
According to the SA Police Service, the Hawks arrested two Bulgarian men on Sunday for manufacturing ATM fraud technology, following the discovery of 12 bank card skimming devices at their Pretoria residence.
The directorate of priority crime investigations (Hawks) says, in just two days, the intelligence-driven operation with SARS and Johannesburg-based banking affiliates, yielded the largest number of bank card skimming devices ever found in one operation.
Hawks spokesperson Captain Paul Ramaloko says the arrests represent a significant success for South African consumers. "If you imagine that one of these devices could clone - for example - over 50 000 cards, and they were seized before they could be installed, this is a great accomplishment."
The devices, he says, work via tampering technology that "reads" the data from bank cards inserted into ATMs. "There is no way of the person who is using the ATM knowing that this is happening and, while their bank card is safely in their purse, money is being drawn from their bank account."
Among items seized, say police, were 12 complete hi-tech bank card skimming devices, as well as the accompanying cameras (ready to be installed in ATMs), encoding machines, bank card readers, laptops used to clone cards, various cellphones, cloned cards, documents containing details for skimming purposes, and the vehicle the syndicate had used.
The syndicate is suspected to have been operating in Johannesburg and surrounding areas for some time.
Suspects' fate
Ramaloko says the two Bulgarian men, both in their late-thirties, appeared in the Randburg Magistrates' Court yesterday.
"One of the suspects was released on R10 000 bail, while the other was remanded until 11 December when a formal bail application can be carried out."
While he cannot go into detail as to the fate of the two, Ramaloko says the latter suspect's suspended bailout relates to evidence, as well as to personal and residency documents.
Ramaloko says the recent success was underpinned by an intensification of crime prevention operations by the SA police in general.
"There has been a drop in this kind of criminal activity since last year, and we expect further decline as law enforcement groups continue to drive investigation and crime-prevention operations."
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