Threats, bribes as fraudsters target New Zealand eftpos devices

Three Canadians have been arrested in what police say is an international crime syndicate, which secretly modifies eftpos machines in shops to steal customers' credit card details. The skimmers are alleged to have stolen normal eftpos terminals and replaced them with "compromised" replicas, often with the help of shop staff who are bribed with money or threatened with violence. The tampered machines record the bank account details of swiped cards, which are then transferred to blank cards. Pinhole cameras hidden near the eftpos machines or false keypads are used to record the PIN numbers, before the cloned bank cards are used at ATMs to withdraw cash.

Like normal skimming attacks, where bank cards are skimmed by false fronts on ATM machines, victims are often unaware of the fraud until they check their bank balance. This week, three men appeared in Auckland District Court charged with participating in an organised crime group which allegedly stole a number of eftpos pin pads. The Canadian trio of Giovanni Patroni Hernandez, Guillermo Alexis Esquizel Lemus and Jonathon Burrel, aged between 21 and 30, are in custody and are the subject of an ongoing police and Customs investigation. Interpol and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are also involved in the inquiry. The inquiry was triggered after one of the main providers of eftpos pin-pads alerted police that 11 units had been stolen since mid June.