Card skimmers loot $100,000 from Westpac ATM users

A Westpac spokesman says the device was discovered after customers using the machine complained of mysterious withdrawals from their accounts. The withdrawals, totalling $100,000, affected approximately 75 customers and have been traced to Toronto in Canada.

Westpac is midway through a programme to equip all of its ATMs with anti-skimming technology from NCR. The 'Jitter' system vibrates the card as it enters the ATM and renders the mag-stripe data unreadable.

The bank has so far installed the technology at 70% of its cash machines nationwide and says incidents of skimming at protected machines has fallen to zero.