Antwerp police arrest Charleroi shoulder surfers
Police in Antwerp have arrested three members of a female gang of shoulder surfers. Shoulder surfers look over your shoulder when you are at an ATM in order to get hold of your PIN code. They then proceed to steal your bank card and your cash.
The gang was based outside the southern city of Charleroi. Here police executed a raid last Saturday, seizing 9,000 euros in cash and detaining three individuals.
The investigation started after an off-duty police officer saw how two members of the gang set to work in an Antwerp supermarket.
“One of our officers was in the queue at the check out and saw how the women looked over a customer’s shoulder to see their code. The officer intervened. CCTV footage allowed an investigation to start” says Wouter Bruyns of Antwerp police.
During the raid police also encountered expensive clothes, handbags, bottles of wine, champagne, spirits, and cigarettes, presumably all bought using stolen bank cards.
The police learned two of the women would follow a victim and steal their bank card. A third woman waited in the car that had taken them to Antwerp.
The three women were already on the wanted list of the judicial authorities. One still has to serve an eight-year prison sentence.
