These days, ATM users need to be wary of high-tech thieves who can steal your card and PIN details using sophisticated skimmers. But there are still plenty of old-fashioned ways to steal from folks, too — the South Jakarta police arrested recently four men who allegedly used simple toothpicks to try and scam people at the ATM .
The four allegedly attempted their scam at a minimarket in the Kebayoran Lama area of South Jakarta on February 12. According to police, their modus operandi was to stick a toothpick into the card reader to make it impossible for others to put their card in.
One of the scammers would then pretend to be waiting in line behind the victim. Then, when the victim had trouble entering their card, the scammer would offer to help, removing the toothpick and secretly switching the real card with a fake. The victim would then enter their PIN, which the scammer would try to catch. When the victim’s fake card failed and they left, the scammers would be left with the real card and the PIN.
Police did not say how often the scammers had been done successfully but their Feb 12 attempt ultimately led to their arrest soon after.
“The four perpetrators were arrested about two weeks ago,” said South Jakarta District Police Criminal Investigation Head Andi Sinjaya Ghalib today as quoted by Kompas.
According to Andi, the four alleged thieves were arrested in two different locations: one an apartment in Tangerang and another a hotel in Karawang, West Jakarta.
Police said that the four suspects, ranging in age from 30 to 40, all originally came from Lampung. When they were arrested, authorities say they secured evidence in the form of 13 ATM cards as well as the toothpicks allegedly used by the perpetrators.
Regardless of whether the four suspects really did commit the toothpick-blocked ATM scam, they definitely did not invent it. The scam seems to have been done for many years and all over Indonesia. Several men were arrested in Sukabumi. West Java, just last week on similar charges.
Police say the four suspects will be charged with violating Article 363 of the Criminal Code concerning theft, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
