TAIF: Taif Police have rounded up four teenagers on charges of stealing more than SR2 million from automated teller machines by using game cards similar to bank cards, authorities said. One of the juveniles got a game card from a mall in Taif and by coincidence, he discovered that he could use it to get the amount of money drawn by the last customer who used the ATM, Okaz/Saudi Gazette has learned. At first, the leader of the young gangsters used the card to get SR800 and then he and the others managed to withdraw SR2 million in two years, officials said. The suspects could only withdraw money from one bank's ATMs, which used an old system, said authorities, who added that they used two cash machines in Hawyia and a third on Hassan Bin Thabit Street and a fourth in Al-Qemryia District. They got the money from the bank's basic capital assets, without touching the customers' deposits and accounts, according to authorities. When the bank's officials discovered shortages in the bank's assets, including SR90,000 and SR70,000, which were drawn simultaneously, they reported the matter to security authorities who referred it to the Criminal Investigation Department in Taif, officials said. Investigators, who formed a team of experts to review video records and photos taken by the ATM's cameras, recognized one of the teenagers through the amount he withdrew, authorities said. The team arrested him while he was driving a 2010 Toyota Camry and arrested his accomplices one after another. The four teenagers were referred to the police station in Al-Hawyia for questioning, police said. Investigations revealed that the four juveniles bought five cars, two Camrys, two Lexus and one Datsun, and sold three of them in the last few months, police said.
