Two men who used devices on cash machines across various parts of the country including Greenford to steal money from members of the public using the ATMs have been sent to prison for a combined four years and six months.
Sebastian Vizir, 35 and Lucian Martinica, 29 both of Harrow, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal, following the investigation by the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), a specialist police unit that is funded by the banking and finance industry.
Vizir and Martinica used a device known as a ‘cash trap’ to steal funds from several cash machines across England between 1 December 2021 and 1 February 2022. The device was inserted into a cash machine’s dispenser, meaning that when unsuspecting members of the public tried to withdraw money, the notes were trapped inside. The criminals would then return to the ATM and retrieve the device and the money.
The pair targeted cash machines at locations across north and west London, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and Northampton, stealing over £20,000 in cash and causing £60,000 worth of damage to the machines when retrieving their victims’ money.
The fraud was spotted by bank staff and referred to the DCPCU to investigate. CCTV evidence from the ATMs identified Vizir and Martinica at a series of cash trapping ATM incidents.
Officers from the unit arrested them both while they were trying to steal money from a supermarket ATM in St Albans on 1 February 2021. A search of one of their home addresses uncovered a number of the devices in various states of preparation, along with the raw material and tools to make the cash traps.
Detective Chief Inspector Gary Robinson, head of the DCPCU, said: “The DCPCU is working tirelessly with the banking and finance industry to disrupt the organised criminal gangs behind fraud and protect the public. This sentencing is a warning to those who believe they can benefit financially from fraud that they will be caught and punished.”
