Crooks use glue guns to target ATM customers (SF Examiner)


Forget bullets.

The latest weapon to emerge in ATM thefts is the humble glue gun, which crooks are using to gum up a cash machine’s keypads, police say in San Francisco.

The thieves glue down the “enter,” “cancel” and “clear” buttons on an ATM keypad. Then they wait for a customer to enter his PIN, get nervous or frustrated about the malfunctioning keypad, and go inside the bank for help, the San Francisco Examiner reported. Then the thieves use the ATM’s touchscreen to finish the transaction.

S.F. police four such thefts have been reported in one San Francisco neighborhood since January. It was unclear if the victims had left their bank cards in the machine when they walked away, but police advised customers that they can use a machine’s touchscreen to complete their business.

The scam is the latest tactic to emerge in ATM thefts. Last year, prosecutors charged two Redmond men suspected of installing fake faceplates on cash machines, with a skimmer that steals data from bank cards.

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Vanessa Ho

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