14 DAY TRIAL // A retired policewoman has lost all her pension after 31 years of service in the Manila Police Department, due to ATM skimming.
The total loss amounted to PHP 400,000 ($9,150 / €6,830), the incident being reported to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), on Friday, August 8.
According to ANC, a local news outlet, the unauthorized withdrawals from her account have been perpetrated for years.
In a single, day, back in August 2012, the crooks proceeded to withdraw from her account a total of PHP 100,000 ($2,288/ €1,718), split into 10 transactions.
The former officer, identified as “Chief Inspector Anna,” noticed the fraudulent transactions at the beginning of 2013 and proceeded to report the theft to the NBI.
The law enforcement agency used this incident to draw attention to the perils posed by ATM skimming, an operation that consists in reading the information on the card through a device installed on the ATM system.
To help them with withdrawing the money, the cybercriminals often install miniature cameras to capture the PIN code for accessing the funds.
The piece of advice from the NBI is to carry out such transactions from machines located in busier areas, since crooks are less likely to install their devices in such places. Also useful is to have the bank inform the customer of transactions above a certain amount through text messages.