Police warning as Muswell Hill cashpoint is tampered with by criminals
Police are alerting people to criminal activity at the Santander in Muswell Hill - Credit: Archant
Police have warned that a Muswell Hill cashpoint has been targeted by scammers.
Haringey police say the cash point at Santander on Muswell Hill Broadway is the latest to fall victim to a device called a “Lebanese Loop” which criminals use to commit fraud, identity theft, and steal cash.
In one method, the device is a strip or sleeve of metal or plastic which blocks the cash machine’s card slot.
This causes the inserted card to appear to be “eaten up” by the machine.
The criminal can then steal the card when the card holder leaves and withdraw money elsewhere.
In another method, the device can cover up sections of the screen which leads the customer to withdraw more money than they otherwise would, leaving them exposed.
Police believe criminals have been targeting the Muswell Hill Santander on the basis it is an older style cash point and more vulnerable to this type of crime.
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Inspector Matt Cox said: “The Safer Neighbourhoods Team have been working closely with Santander and other banks in Muswell Hill to promote crime prevention messaging and the security of their cash points.
“This has been combined with information days at banks in the locality whereby bank users can obtain prevention advice from the police.”
Santander are aware of the problem and are taking steps to review the cash point.
- For further information on reducing the risk of being a victim of this or similar crimes, please see www.met.police.uk/docs/little_book_scam.pdf.
