This article is from page 2 of the 2013-11-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
GARDAÍ in Shannon say they have not received any reports of bank accounts being illegally accessed following the discovery of a skimming device at a town centre ATM last month.
Gardaí were alerted after the insertion of the skimming device set off an internal alarm in the machine.
Gardaí have not received any reports of bank accounts being hit as the device may have been discov- ered before it was put to use.
It comes as a man in Ennis saw almost € 300 illegally removed from his account at the start of the month.
The man was informed by two banks – AIB and Bank of Ireland – that money from his accounts was used for a series of online transactions. Not all of the transactions were successful.
The amounts, which varied from € 10 to € 30, were used to purchase products from Apple’s iTunes website and Hostelworld.
The banks detected the series of “unusual transactions” which took place on a Sunday morning. The man was waiting to hear from the bank last night to know if his debit card accounts had been illegally accessed online or through other means. The man’s sister, who also lives in Ennis, also was also the victim of a recent similar fraud.
“It was from two separate accounts. The bank got in touch with me to say they had noticed a few unusual transactions on my account. They’ve said I’m going to be re- funded so I’m going to be talking to them,” he explained.
Cash machines in Limerick and Galway have recently been targeted in an ATM scam.
Gardaí in Shannon discovered a skimming device at a town centre cash point on October 11 but have received no reports so far of accounts being affected.
In August, the Irish Payment Services Organisation reported that almost € 30,000 had been stolen through an ATM scam in a single week.