2 Sought in Credit Card Attack on ATM’s

Another massive credit card scam has been uncovered in the local banking system and police are on the lookout tonight for a pair of thieves who have withdrawn an undisclosed sum of money from ATMs across Belize City.  It’s a high-tech scheme which involves the use of an electronic device that is able to read information stored on the magnetic stripe found on the back of the card.  In this case, the card reader is attached to the automated teller machine.  When a customer swipes his card using that piece of equipment, digitally stored account information along with the customer’s personal identification number is immediately recorded unto the device.  A review of recent transactions conducted at the Belize Bank’s ATM locations indicates that the duo has withdrawn an undetermined amount of money from the machines.  Their images have been captured on surveillance cameras installed inside the kiosks and have been forwarded to the Belize Police Department.  In May 2016, Bulgarian scammers Jeorgi Petrov and Halid Yuksel Aptula were charged for similar crimes after being found in possession of a hundred and eleven fake credit cards.  Those pieces of plastics were also used to withdraw thousands of dollars in various denominations from the Belize Bank ATM.  Those men were presumed to be members of an international ring of credit card thieves and were subsequently sentenced to one year in prison.