Important question -

How do you know its a result of using these particular machines thats causing your accounts to be debited ?

I'm curious as I think unless someone has hotwired them inside, then they must have those extra fronts/cameras/card readers added to be getting your details and pin number !

To me I'd consider other options -

Card skimming - where someone takes your card to pay for meal/shopping/duty free/wine/fags/beer etc and in the blink of an eye has run it through a machine the copies the cards details and then they watch or the box you type your pin in is also copying your pin number - Watching a programme the other month this seemed to be one of the biggest ways people had their cards copied !

Your Computer - lets face it most people don't have a clue about computer security and just before you came away you probably ran your credit card through your computer to pay for the holiday or prebook seats, order transport, order money etc. Is it possible you have some spyware/virus reading your details and sending them to someone ? (speaking from first hand knowledge many many people think they are using the machine correctly but don't have a firewall running or their antivirus has been out of date since 2004 etc... Even people that keep these things updated don't actually bother running scans with them! This includes people who should know better !

Rubbish - yes on the same programme I saw it even mentioned people were paying people who work in rubbish collection/sorting to find any personal details (bank accounts, old credit cards, thrown away pin number letters etc) and then obviously using this data for illegal acts - SHRED (cross cut) your paper work before throwing !

What does everyone else think ?

Steve

Hi,

I'm not saying its 100% due to me using the cashpoint in Pernera but I hadnt used my card for over a week before and within a couple of hours of me using it at the cashpoint it was used in Germany (several times) to withdraw cash, just seems to much of a coincidence to be anything else. Doubt I will ever know for sure though.

Max

If you were going to steal someones card details would you use them straight away so it would stand out where it had been done ? Or would you leave a few weeks/months giving them time to use it elsewhere and cover the tracks ?

:huh

On the other hand, it is highly likely that the card belonged to a holidaymaker therefore it would be best to steal money from their account as soon as possible because most people would not be checking their statements until the end of their holiday when they returned home. The thief would get more time to continue making withdrawals unnoticed than they normally would.
When this happened to me last year, the theft from my account happened shortly after I used the cashpoint in Protaras. I never used my card in cyprus except at the cashpoint and when I'm at home I never really use my debit card as a debit card, only for withdrawing cash.
Without going into a detailed account of my finances the only explanation for the theft from my account is the use of a cashpoint in Protaras.
I hope people will not assume they will never be caught out and let their guard down for one minute like I did and be very cautious using cashpoints or with any other use of your card because to me there are clearly people operating in Protaras who know what they are doing regarding card fraud.
I don't wish to overly concern people, I just urge you to be careful!

seems wise words - be aware and be careful !