Due to huge scams, tourists are advised not to use ATMs in Bali

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Travellers visiting Bali are being urged to exercise caution following recent police investigations that uncovered a scam involving card skimming devices at ATMs in key tourist areas. The scam was brought to light after a Ukrainian woman was recently deported due to her involvement in tampering with public ATMs. She was sent back to Warsaw last Tuesday after serving a two-year sentence and being fined $10,500. The Bali Sun reported that her deportation also comes with a travel ban in Indonesia, as confirmed by the Ngurah Rai Immigration Office.

The incident has been cited as a stark reminder for tourists to ensure they use only secured card machines. Tourists are specifically advised to use ATMs located within bank premises whenever possible to reduce the risk of encountering tampered machines. Card skimming, which involves installing illicit devices on ATMs to steal card information during transactions, poses a significant threat, particularly in bustling tourist hubs.

The deceptive nature of these scams was highlighted last year when an Australian tourist almost fell victim to a skimming operation at a Commonwealth Bank ATM in Seminyak. The tourist, identified only by the initials L. McMullen, shared her experience on the Facebook Group “Bali Bogans,” where she described finding a misleading handwritten note on the ATM indicating it was broken. This turned out to be a ploy by scammers to redirect tourists to compromised machines nearby.

Upon inquiring with a bank teller, it was confirmed that the ATM was fully operational and the note was likely placed by a scammer aiming to lure tourists to their rigged devices. This incident underscores the cunning strategies employed by scammers to trap unsuspecting tourists.

Pramella Y. Pasaribu, head of Bali’s regional office for the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights, emphasized the importance of Bali’s strict immigration policies in dealing with problematic tourists. She lauded the recent formation of a Tourist Task Force aimed at addressing visa abuses and inappropriate behavior among visitors. Pasaribu reaffirmed the commitment to enhancing coordination and supervision of foreign nationals in the region, indicating ongoing efforts to safeguard tourists from such fraudulent activities.

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