Alert issued as Americans lose cash from their bank accounts

By Staff writer

28th June 2009

The US embassy in Dar es Salaam has registered complaints from several American citizens linked with theft of money from their bank accounts by an unidentified person in Nairobi, Kenya.

According to the information that The Guardian on Sunday received from the US embassy in Dar es Salaam over the weekend, all of the complainants stated that they used ATMs in Dar es Salaam before they learnt of the unusual withdrawals from their accounts.

“The Embassy is unsure of the method the perpetrators are using and must assume that all ATMs in Tanzania are potentially compromised,” brief information copied to The Guardian on Sunday stated.

However, the embassy did not disclose the name of the bank involved in the problem, which the embassy is working closely with the Tanzanian police to solve.
Efforts to reach the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Robert Manumba and the spokesman of the Police Force yesterday didn`t succeed.

In the wake of cyber crime, the embassy has recommended that American citizens check their accounts and determine if any unusual withdrawals have occurred and if so contact their bank immediately since the bank was in the best position to take measures to prevent further losses.

The embassy has also been forced to issue updated information on travel and security in the country that could be obtained from the Department of State by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the United States and Canada.

As for callers outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444 should be used.
Cyber crime linked with theft of money from banks in Tanzania has recently caught the attention of bank operators, a trend that shows that police have an uphill task of acquiring ICT skills to keep pace with the changing sophisticated IT technology.

SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY

Police crack ATM fraud ring
By Correspondent
21st July 2009


Police are holding two foreigners over allegations of stealing cash from customers’ accounts through various automated teller machines (ATMs) in Dar es Salaam.

Dar es Salaam Special Zone Police commander, Suleiman Kova told journalists in Dar es Salaam that the law enforcers arrested two Bulgarians, Nedko Stanchen (37) and Stella Nedekcheva (23) on Saturday in connection with the ATM theft scam.

He said the police were checking out how the two came into the country and whether they had valid documents.

The foreigners are alleged to have stolen more that 70m/- from different customer accounts through ATMs operated by different commercial banks in the country’s key port and commercial capital.

He said the culprits were arrested in one of the Barclays bank branch ATMs at Kinondoni in the city.

Explaining how the theft was discovered, Kova said one of the bank attendants who was cleaning up the ATM room discovered a camera and an instrument in the ATM machine for recording customer card information.

He said the matter was reported to the police and an investigation team was launched to trap the thieves.

“We arrested them on Saturday at the same bank branch drawing money. When we searched them they had five ATM cards for Barclays Bank and one card for Stanbic Bank on them,” said Kova.

An IT specialist warned recently of increasing ATM frauds worldwide, saying a survey showed that 70 per cent of financial institutions experienced more incidents of ATM/debit card frauds last year than in 2007.

He said a variety of ways are employed to obtain the personal data of ATM/debit cards, one of which is skimming at institutions, where the fraudsters install a PIN pad overlay and a card reader. This is where the transaction goes through, and the customer doesn’t realize that their ATM or debit card has been compromised.

The expert says there has been a steady increase over the last couple of years of this type of fraud.

The second trend according to the expert is ghost ATMs, where the entire ATM card reader is blocked off and customers can’t perform a transaction. Customers swipe their cards, enter their PINs, and then the fake ATMS say they can’t complete the transactions.

The expert cautioned ATM users to safeguard their PINs.



Meanwhile, police are holding Othman Mbani (25) a resident of Mivinjeni for possession of 42 pieces of elephant tusks worth 4,827,900/-.

The preliminary investigation report indicated that the tusks were transported from Ifakara in Morogoro region to Dar es Salaam.

In another development police in Dar es Salaam have apprehended a hardcore criminal identified as Abdullah Nassor dubbed Pajero (37) a resident of Mbagala Kiburugwa on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.

Kova said the culprit will appear in court after police complete investigations.


SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Cracked the case in 2 and a half weeks......good boys!

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
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