ATM scammer jailed for 12 months

A West Australian man has been sentenced to 12 months' jail and fined $1,500 for taking part in an EFTPOS card skimming scam which netted the bandits $270,000.

Naresh Vasanthanathan, 22, was part of an EFTPOS scamming ring which used terminals to capture bank card numbers and pins over a two month period last year.

The accused had earlier pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit fraud, and four counts of stealing.

The court found that despite his early guilty plea, the seriousness of the offence required a jail sentence.

Another three men were charged over the EFTPOS skimming scam and have been ordered to surrender their passports and not leave WA.

In the last year overall skimming fraud in Australian dropped by 24 per cent to $34.5m, a fall attributed to the uptake of chipped cards.

Fraudsters are increasingly targeting payments methods that do not use chip and PIN, such as via online shopping or by mail or phone. Fraud on Australian-issued scheme credit, debit and charge cards increased by 25 per cent to $102.6m last year, and now accounts for 52 per cent of all frauds on these types of cards. ®