The Kanto Bureau of Telecommunications in Japan yesterday announced that they have fitted Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) / Cash Machines with cellphone jammers, in an attempt to help slow Japan’s latest fraud phenomenon. The recent scams target the elderly, with scammers reeling them in and feeding them step-by-step instructions which lately involve the withdrawal of cash from an ATM and handing it over in a number of ways.

The ceiling mounted jammers block reception within a 1-2 meter sphere in an attempt to get victims off the phone and reconsider their actions.

You probably shouldn’t be on the phone whist withdrawing cash anyway in case you get mugged, so it’s not going to inconvenience people too much – but I can’t help but think what a futile effort this is. Scammers will simply change their approach – like telling an elderly person to withdraw a million yen and call her back five minutes later with delivery instructions. They’ve already shown how adaptive they are. When this began, scammers would instruct people to use a bank teller. Once the authorities caught on and the tellers began questioning their elderly customers, the scammers began directing people to ATMs instead. I wonder what their next move will be?

Sources:
Kanto Bureau of Telecommunications (Translated) and Lets Japan and NNI