March 13, 2008
A major incident that took place in Dubai last month should change our perspective about ATM machines in the entire Gulf region!
In this incident, electronic readers were hidden on ATM machines by a gang of fraudsters. This led to the compromise of ATM cards of thousands of residents in the UAE. The readers were used to copy all of the data of any card inserted into the affected ATM machine, and small video cameras were mounted to capture pin numbers.
In response to this incident, the central bank in UAE advised all banks to check their ATM machines to ensure that they have not been affected. The central bank also provided lenders with a list of the affected ATM cards to be blocked from service, and it advised users to change their pin numbers.
If we don't take into consideration all possible safety precautions, we might be NEXT!
This is a call for all ATM users to be aware that such incidents may occur in Qatar and to check ATM machines for signs of tampering before use.
Here are some tips for helping to avoid this scam:
The following related topics can be useful for further reading: