Cash Machine Fraud

[bigmadjohn]

Dear all,

tonight when stopping in a petrol station, i noticed a small camera in the faschia of a cash machine, it was obviously bodged in by a scammer (poorly cut faschia). I had not put my pin in at this point. I smashed the camera using my workvan key (it immediately went inside the faschia indicating poor fitting). At this point I noticed an eastern european gent staring as he drove past in a BMW. Upon returning to my work van i immediatley phoned the number on the back of my card but after waiting on hold for 5 mins, I decided to phone the police (non-emergency) (ps-there is no number to ring on the atm), after 10mins on hold I gave up on this also. Upon returning to work I found the number for abbey to tell them one of their machines had been compromised, after being redirected 3 times I gave up after 8 mins on hold. There is also no mention of their site of what to do or on google. Who the hell do I tell about this- the banks are bleating on about loosing billions to card fraud, but when you want to report it, there isnt a way to do so. Ive given up trying to get hold of them (got work to do), might ring in the morning, in which time possibly thousands could be lost. If anyones more patient than me and wants to report it its the abbey cashpoint in the BP station on the junction of the A4 and A30 near heathrow/hounslow, or let me know who to contact.

Regards

john

[condor]

I'd suggest calling BP's Head office as main point of call.

[bigmadjohn]

Good idea in theory

checked website, no number to call 24hrs, no way to contact via email.

Didnt think it would be this hard to report a potential crime??

Thanks anyway

John

[alfaman]

is this the bp station with the m+s food shop , located next to the roundabout before the road forks : either hounslow or A4 ? (I use it frequently )

[Road Pest]

I'm sure some bib may pick it up here if you post in spl.

[zcacogp]

In all seriousness, it sounds like a crime in action (i.e. happening now), so I would be tempted to call 999. After all, if it's OK for an MP to call 999 when her boiler starts making odd noises, it's a good number to call for cashpoint fraud.

Shocking that the banks have no ready way of calling them tho'.


Oli.

[HRG]

There should be a central well known number for reporting this sort of thing.

[DrTre]

just curious but isn't there usually an onscreen message with a number to call warning of keeping an eye out for exactly what you describe?

[BigLepton]

zcacogp said:

In all seriousness, it sounds like a crime in action (i.e. happening now), so I would be tempted to call 999. After all, if it's OK for an MP to call 999 when her boiler starts making odd noises, it's a good number to call for cashpoint fraud.

Shocking that the banks have no ready way of calling them tho'.


Oli.

Yep. 999. "Hello Mr Plod, theres a dodgy russian muslim bloke stealing money from people at the cashpoint at xxx petrol station. He looks like a paedo, I think I saw a gun under his jacket and he looks like he speeds. Oh, and I've just noticed the shop has just received a fresh delivery of doughnuts. . . ."

That should get them out.

[captainzep]

Why is it always BP?

The only time I've had my card skimmed was at a local BP garage. The bank said they were concerned about a few BP garages in the region.

Google BP Card Fraud.

[Road Pest]

captainzep said:

Why is it always BP?

The only time I've had my card skimmed was at a local BP garage. The bank said they were concerned about a few BP garages in the region.

Google BP Card Fraud.

Try google shell card fraud.

[Kinky]

It's a bit of a joke really when you've got to google companies emergency numbers like this!

[chriswright]

I work in this area for a certain scottish bank. If you can't get through to your lost card line (they send reports onto whoever looks after the machine) the site usually has a number for whoever maintains the ATM to report faults etc

[LHDisbest]

Road Pest said:

captainzep said:

Why is it always BP?

The only time I've had my card skimmed was at a local BP garage. The bank said they were concerned about a few BP garages in the region.

Google BP Card Fraud.

Try google shell card fraud.

Got my Amex skimmed in petrol station in Leeds (hmmmmm, funny that). Thank god for insurance.

[bigmadjohn]

alfaman

Yes it is that particular BP station, being that the bloke was there having a look (couldve just been looking at a fat bloke smashing away at a cashpoint) I would think it could be a fairly recent 'addition'. Keep an eye out on your statement anyway, if anything does happen I have a reg number and description, so PM/email me. Please note Ive pushed the object into the casing so even if some unfortunate soul does use it, the camera shouldnt see anything. Also, watched on screen (only for a few seconds) and no message seems to appear. Just seems really stupid to me that this type of major fraud (probably surpasses shoplifting) doesnt have a straightforward way of reporting it. Im not inclined to call 999, as a few years ago I was dressed down on the phone for having the cheek to report gypos using an angle grinder to break into a field, im sure that the police would prefer dealing with 2 blokes in a transit for a few hours rather than deal with them and all sundry in the field for 2 weeks with the associated breakins etc.

Rgds

John

[Kinky]

John - saw your other post on S,P, & L.

Said before and will say again - it's really crap it's come to posting on a discussion forum to get help to report it - and not even a truly relevant forum at that (although I guess you'll get a quicker response from PH)!

Good luck with trying to report it, and please keep us up to date on what happens

K

[bigmadjohn]

I know that P&P is the busiest forum on here, and at that time of night I thought it would be a best bet for an answer/advice. I completly agree that it is ridiculous that I have to post this question on an internet forum, after spending almost 20mins on the phone to numerous parties and searching on the internet and the aforementioned banks website (where calling one number on the abbey website gives you a message to call a different number??) I still have had no luck, I would be happy to report this if it took between 15-30mins, but at the end of the day Im being paid to work so I cant sit here on the phone all night chasing this up. Ive done what I can and feel partially guilty as I know this scam could potentially going on right now, possibly to someone I know or someone on here right before christmas. I also want to know, I have put my card into the machine, but have not entered a pin number (cancelled as soon as I noticed this odd object), is there anything that they can do with it (its a bank savings card-no debit facility), If anything does go missing from my account I know what the bloke looks like and I know his car reg, so Ill simply find him-and get my money back.

Regards

John

[Marf]

condor said:

I'd suggest calling BP's Head office as main point of call.

They'd probably tell you they're not interested, just like they wouldnt be the ones to call if the machine swallowed your card. Responsibility for the machine lies with the bank who owns it.

[ShadownINja]

Kinky said:

It's a bit of a joke really when you've got to google companies emergency numbers like this!

That's what I was thinking.

Write them a letter, second class post, warning them of the urgency of the problem, highlighting a lack of any decent number to call that worked.

[wildoliver]

I wouldn't dream of suggesting the reason for these type of things happening at shell and bp stations in the main being down to a particular ethnic group which usually works in them.

I think that is entirely coincidental