Philipsburg:--- Police arrested five foreign nationals who were busy skimming ATM machines belonging to the Windward Islands Bank (WIB) Thursday evening. The five suspects all of whom are foreign nationals were caught in the act.
Chief Commissioner of Police Peter de Witte said the five suspects were arrested due to cooperation with the WIB Bank who worked closely with police to apprehend the culprits when they were in action. De Witte said police also confiscated a large amount of monies. The top cop said no precise figure can be placed on the cash they confiscated because police is still busy counting the monies. De Witte said the officers also confiscated the equipments that were used to skim the monies from the ATMs, two vehicles, and a number of ATM cards that were being used by the suspects. As for the nationalities of the suspects, De Witte said they are all foreign nationals but their nationalities could not yet be confirmed because police has to verify their documents.
It should be noted that several banks including the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and the FirstCaribbean Bank have reported that their ATM machines were being skimmed and a large number of their clients were being affected.
Five men arrested by police for skimming ATM-machines.
On Thursday May 30th at approximately 08:00pm, several police patrols from the Simpson Bay and Philipsburg districts were alerted that several men were identified as suspects in the fraudulent act of skimming monies from ATM machines. Descriptions of the vehicles the suspects were using to go to the ATM machines were given and an investigation to locate these suspects was initiated. With the assistance and cooperation of bank security personnel, a total of five men were arrested in this case. The investigation showed that these men had been busy skimming monies from all ATM machines at same time at different locations on the island. During their arrest and a search of their hotel room a substantial amount of U.S. currency and numerous electronic cards (used to manipulate the ATM-machine) were found and confiscated for further investigation. All suspects are from Canada and Lebanese descent. All suspects remain in custody for further investigation.
In addition, the police department has been receiving numerous reports of persons using false credit cards to purchase very expensive items such as jewelry and electronic items. The Police Department is warning everyone and in particular all businesses to take good notice of this information and inform the police anytime they encounter someone committing this type of illegal act.
KPSM Police Report