KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Police in Kuala Lumpur have recommended that banks take steps to prevent any foreign objects from being installed in ATM machines following a month-long wave of illegal transactions.
According to Malaysia's The Star newspaper, 397 account holders in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor have lost RM1.2 million ($316,000) in illegal transactions since June 1. The thefts are apparently the work of a syndicate, according to police officials.
"If banks had taken the initiative to check their ATMs frequently, then the recent illegal withdrawals could have been prevented," police director Datuk Salleh Mat Som told The Star.
Police officials said the syndicate is using skimmers and spy cameras to perpetrate the thefts. The skimmers are placed in the ATM card slot to trace cardholder details, while the spy camera is used to record bank customers inputting their PIN numbers.
Using this information, the syndicate creates forged cards and makes illegal withdrawals with them.
Police confiscated a skimmer and spy camera from an ATM in Salak South on June 15 and arrested a pair of suspected syndicate members in separate raids on June 21. The raids yielded 8,000 forged cards, skimmers, spy cameras, television sets, and other equipment.
A round-the-clock manhunt is ongoing to capture other suspected syndicate members.
