If something goes wrong at an ATM, don’t leave the ATM to sort it out but try to phone from where you are.
This is the advice of Captain Stephen Knapp after a man was defrauded of several thousand rand after trying to use a FNB ATM on Main Road, Muizenberg on Thursday May 26 at 9.30am.
The ATM didn’t appear to be functioning and did not return his card so the card owner drove to his bank at Blue Route to report the malfunction, but by the time he got there the fraudster had made three withdrawals.
Captain Knapp said it was best to stay at the ATM if something went wrong. Usually, there are phone numbers displayed that can be used to report malfunctions.
In these cases there is always someone nearby loitering as well so look out for suspicious people nearby before deciding to use an ATM.
In other crime news, a woman’s bag with a laptop was stolen on the train after she got on the train at False Bay station on Monday May 30 at 10.15am. A man standing close behind her grabbed her bag and jumped off the train at Lakeside station.
Other than that, said Captain Knapp, it had been a quiet week for Muizenberg’s Sector 3 (Marina da Gama and Lakeside south to Kalk Bay) for the week ending Thursday May 26.
There had been a burglary in Clevedon Road, Muizenberg, a theft out of a motor vehicle parked near Sunrise beach while someone was walking their dog and a common robbery in Royal Road, Muizenberg, when a woman, near her house, had had her bag and laptop stolen.
Captain Knapp said, for all three of Muizenberg’s sectors, there had been 40 arrests for the week under review, of which nine had been for the possession of drugs and seven for outstanding warrants.
Captain Knapp said that there was “a big push” by Muizenberg SAPS to find people for whom there were warrants of arrest, who had been charged but who hadn’t turned up in court.