NMB syndicate uses old card scam to allegedly dupe people out of R300,000

A team of alleged fraudsters are hoping to be released on bail following their arrest when they tried to bring an old scam back to Nelson Mandela Bay’s beachfront.

Armed with stolen card machines and an assortment of uniforms to give their scam a legitimate appearance, the four suspects allegedly duped tourists out of hundreds of thousands of rands in foreign currency by charging them for a range of fake services – including transport and parking.

While this scheme may have been slightly more convoluted than previous incidents, it was not the first time scam artists resorted to card skimming and cyber fraud, prompting banking security officials to warn people, especially travellers, against card skimmers and the like.

On Thursday, Mziyanda Magopeni, Linda Aba, Masixole Notile and Mthunzi Sidyiyo appeared in the Gqeberha Magistrates’ Court for their alleged involvement in an elaborate scam that saw them pocket upwards of R300,000 in less than three weeks from tourists visiting the Bay.

They face a total of 237 charges, including theft, fraud, money laundering and contravention of the Cybercrimes Act. The matter has been postponed for formal bail proceedings.

According to the charge sheet, the scheme ran from 1 October until their arrest on 19 October.

Dressed in official-looking uniforms, the group allegedly approached unsuspecting tourists, convincing them they were service providers who could assist them with transport and other services, all the while using stolen point-of-sale card machines to steal thousands of rands from their accounts.

Special operations team

CityWide Security director Stephen Moore, whose operatives were part of a special operations team that nabbed the suspects, said the arrests came after weeks of meticulous investigation and intelligence gathering.

“About a year ago, a similar scam was being run at popular historic and tourist sites around Central Gqeberha. Some arrests were made, and we picked up that the remaining culprits moved their operations away from Central and the beachfront and focused more on shopping centres.

“However, it was recently reported to us that the scam returned to Central and the harbour area.”

Previously, scam artists, dressed as tourist guides, would approach tourists to pay for access to public facilities or the use of public parking, and in the process steal or clone their cards.

This time, according to the court documents, the suspects were found in possession of caps and lanyards with print announcing “Security” and “All visitors must report to the security office.”

They used calculators, cleverly disguised as point-of-sale machines with stickers saying “Visa Mastercard” and “We accept card payments here.” They would allegedly get their victims to punch their PIN codes into the calculators, then use the victim’s cards to make unauthorised transactions with the actual card machines, which were reportedly stolen from FNB.

The charges against the accused pertain to a total of 33 transactions, ranging between R10 and R45,000.

The unauthorised transactions were performed from accounts registered to banks in Australia, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Ukraine and the United States. The two smallest transactions, R10 each, were from South African accounts.

Half the transactions were declined

The fraudulent transactions totalled R854,707.71. Fortunately, about half the transactions were declined before the money left the victims’ accounts, and the 16 approved transactions resulted in an actual loss for the victims of R322,613.44.

Reports indicated that the suspects used a vehicle with a series of falsified number plates. With the help of Sniper licence plate recognition (LPR) cameras, the vehicle was identified on 19 October and tracked as it came from Central towards the harbour area.

The police’s K9 Unit approached the suspects, and when they failed to stop, a short car chase ensued.

The suspects were apprehended in the Humewood area, near the harbour, with the help of CityWide Security and Vusela Security operatives.

Upon searching the vehicle, the police found three card machines, calculators disguised as point-of-sale machines, security caps, hand radios, receipt books and fake number plates.

The four suspects made their first court appearance last week when the matter was postponed for formal bail proceedings. They remain in custody.

In light of similar scams, not only against tourists, but South African citizens as well, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) released a list of tips to warn people against falling prey to card scammers.

• Never let your card out of your sight
• Never write down or disclose your PIN to anyone.
• Subscribe to your bank’s notification services to inform you of any activity on your cards or account.
• Store your bank’s call centre number on your phone should you need it to query any transaction or cancel a card.
• Review your account statement regularly so that you can identify and report any suspicious activity on your account. DM