ATMs ripped off from Canada

High-tech thieves used details from ATM cards to plunder New Zealanders' accounts from Canada in this country's third case of bank "skimming".

The Bank of New Zealand admitted last night that the latest scam, which netted thieves $50,000, went undetected for a month. It blamed the delay on a time lag between account details being skimmed and transactions registering.

During that time nearly 3500 cards were used at the Pakuranga Plaza cash machine in East Auckland.

The BNZ said it was blocking the cards and urged people who had used the ATM to contact their bank to ensure they had access to money over Easter weekend.

Customers should check their transactions throughout March, the BNZ said, and new cards would be issued without charge.

It is the third case of skimming after BNZ machines at New Lynn and Silverdale were targeted.

More than $100,000 has disappeared from bank accounts through skimming frauds.

But it is the first time the stolen bank details have been used abroad.

Shona Bishop, the BNZ's general manager of marketing and business development, said 60 cards had been copied and information from them was used in Toronto.

"We have been advised of suspect transactions on a small number of accounts which suggest fraudulent transactions were conducted offshore," she said.

The transactions in Canada were analysed and a trail led back to the standalone machine at the corner of Ti Rakau Drive and Pakuranga Rd.

"To date, known losses total $49,000," said Ms Bishop.

The scam works by fitting a device to the card slot to copy account details. Customers' PINs are recorded by a small camera or by looking over their shoulder. The information is used to produce fake cards that access the accounts.

The BNZ said 2200 of its own cards were used at the Pakuranga machine last month. A further 1298 cards from other banks were also used in the machine in that time.

Ms Bishop said the BNZ was contacting all its own affected customers and had advised other banks and police of the problem.

"No BNZ customer will suffer any loss as a result of this incident."

Customers from other banks who used the machine should contact their own bank, she said.

The BNZ suspended 1300 cards used at the New Lynn machine between March 7 and 28, and said a further 700 cards from other banks had been compromised.

Another 1443 bank cards - including 379 BNZ cards - were suspended after strange markings were found on a machine at Silverdale on March 30. More than $54,000 disappeared in those incidents.

CASHED OUT
* $103,690: Total skimmed from Bank of New Zealand ATMs at Pakuranga Plaza and New Lynn.
* 98 bank cards copied from the two branches.


* Police are still searching for a man suspected of being part of a skimming crime ring.

He visited the Magnum Liquor store in Customs St three times on March 26 and 27, each time buying five $5 phone cards. He bought 55 cards nearby on March 26.