Bank ATM stymies scammers

| 01/08/2016 | 6 Comments

Cayman News Service(CNS): Two men from Canada who came to Cayman to try and steal cash from local ATMs using cloned credit cards were rounded up by the authorities before they could take any money, the court heard Friday. Adam Mokdad and Hakim Benamara were arrested in April after several of the cloned gift cards they were trying to use to take money from mostly Australian and US accounts via the local ATMs were seized by the Butterfield Bank machine. With the help of CCTV the police were able to track down the two visiting scammers at the Sunshine Suites.

After the police found the related scamming equipment and fraudulent cards, the men were charged and remanded in custody. During the sentencing hearing prosecuting counsel told the judge that the men had targeted Cayman for the con because of the limited security measures in place here on ATMs compared to onshore jurisdictions.

The case is one of a number of similar offences prosecuted in Cayman since the first of its kind in 2013.

In this case the men were caught before they took any money and both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud. With no previous convictions the men are expected to receive a short jail term before being deported. The court heard that one of the men suffers from serious mental health problems and had attempted to take his own life since he was remanded.

Visiting Grand Court judge, Justice Timothy Owen, is expected to deliver his sentencing ruling on Thursday.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Tags: ,

Category: Courts, Crime

Comments (6)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Anonymous says:

    More Canadian BS!

  2. Anonymous says:

    How well, well! wake up and smell the coffee. We traded bad for worst. Yoga Berra said “you ain’t seen nothing yet”.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Canadians??? Really??? Okay then . . .

  4. Anonymous says:

    I am happy to be a Butterfield client and to learn that their level of security is excellent which resulted in these men getting arrested. Well done!

  5. Anonymous says:

    I am so glad that the authorities are catching these persons and fortunately this time even before they were able to withdraw any monies. To all of you ‘a-foreigners’ that want-a-be a HMS North Ward/Fairbanks prisoner please note that the Cayman Islands are not the backward, free money for all, tax free haven, everyone lives in multi-million dollar homes, drive $80,000 cars and do nothing but sit under the palm trees on the beach and smoke up that is portrayed by Hollywood and documentaries. Spread the word while you have the time to write to your family and friends while in Northward. Good job authorities!!!!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.