Mum of four used stolen ATM cards to empty victims’ accounts

GEORGE TOWN: She easily emptied her victims’ bank accounts because many of them used their MyKad numbers as their personal identification numbers (PIN) for their ATM cards.

Obtaining both their MyKad and ATM cards allowed her easy access to their bank accounts.

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) criminologist Assoc Prof Dr P. Sundramoorthy said out of the 30 victims, many either used the first or the last six numbers of their MyKad as their PIN.

“For the last three to four months, we’ve used a lot resources to catch the suspect, a single mother of four, by having my staff go undercover.

“On Tuesday, the suspect was at the USM mosque. She left halfway through the maghrib prayers, at around 7pm, and this created suspicion among our staff.

“The woman then headed towards the Islamic centre beside the mosque and tried to withdraw money from the ATM. After one failed attempt, she quickly made her way to her car.

“Our team then came in and stopped her before she could drive off. We found that she had a stolen bag in her passenger seat,” he said, adding that the owner of the stolen bag made a report upon realising her bag was stolen.

Dr Sundramoorthy, who is also USM’s security department head, said they found the woman would slip her hand into unattended handbags to steal the victims’ wallets.

“She would then go to the nearest bank or ATM and key in either the first or the last six digits of the MyKad to try and withdraw the money.

“Each transaction usually allows for three tries before the card is rejected,” he added.

He said many people had a habit of leaving their belongings unattended in religious places because they assumed these premises were safe.

“This may attract habitual thieves,” he said.

George Town OCPD Asst Comm Anuar Omar said the suspect would enter a mosque or surau and pretend to take part in the prayers before stealing the worshippers’ belongings while they prayed.

She tested positive for drugs, he told a press conference yesterday.

ACP Anuar said the suspect, who works as an Uber driver, stole to pay off her debts of nearly RM20,000 to loan sharks.

She has been remanded for four days pending investigations into the cases under Section 380 of the Penal Code for theft.