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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2006 > January > 04 > Entry
Smile, smart guy, you are on your own camera
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For those of you who are thinking about embarking on a career of armed robbery, read this one.
Just after 8:30 p.m. an employee of a Roswell Road restaurant emptied a grease pan behind the building. When he turned around, a man was holding a gun to his back. The robber had a mask over his nose and mouth. The employee said he got into a fight with the man and, although he took a hit from the butt of the gun to his nose, he got the man into a headlock.
Two employees, who I’m guessing the robber forgot to check for, got into the act and they smacked the guy and took his gun, shirt and mask. The man fled, but not before he dropped his cell phone.
On the phone’s photo wallpaper was a photo of the man holding the gun sideways like they do in the movies, (which by the way, is a good way to finish second in a gunfight.)
The victim positively identified the man and the gun from his phone picture. Although the gun was a semi-automatic pistol, it only had one bullet in the chamber and contained no magazine, a la Barney Fife. The detectives were working on the cell phone files to identify who the Barney is.
Beware of the ATM scam
The victim goes to the Powers Ferry Road ATM and puts the card in. The machine does not return the card. A man comes up to the victim and shows him a sticker above the slot that instructs the customer to punch in his PIN number three times and hit the cancel button.
The victim follows the instructions, but the machine keeps the card. The helper tells the victim the system must be down. The victim leaves and later calls customer service, which tells him the machine is out of order. The customer later learns that his card was used for $1,100 during about a 24-hour period.
The “helper” most likely used a strip to pull the card back out of the slot. It’s shaped like a flat hook. The card seats into the slot and up against the hook. After the victim leaves, the suspect pulls the strip back out. The suspect watched the victim enter his PIN three times and so off he goes.
Smooth move of the day
A man was treated at Northside Hospital after he accidentally shot himself. The victim and his buddy were on Abernathy Road heading to a club when the victim shot himself just below the knee. The wound, from the .38-caliber pistol, was described as minor. The victim was described as intoxicated.
Comments
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By CJ
January 5, 2006 6:14 AM | Link to this
Didn’t the broken ATM have its’ own camera, or did the perp disable it, too? How can we lay people tell the difference?
By Adam
January 5, 2006 6:53 PM | Link to this
I just follow the rule of if someone approaches me to tell me anything about an ATM, I will just cancel the transaction, get the card and move on with my day. If they see me enter the pin, I’ll cancel the card immediately.
By H F Davis
January 8, 2006 8:49 PM | Link to this
I wonder if the ATM scammer is on the ATM Surveillance camera?