傑瑞斯 JRIS 澳洲闖天下

Sophisticated bankcard skimming devices, unlike any other seen by police before, have been found attached to two ATMs in Brisbane's Queen Street Mall.

The highly sophisticated gadgets were designed to look like green-coloured anti-skimming devices fitted to many ATMs, but were placed over the machines' card slots with nothing more than double-sided tape.

The devices, which were found on two adjacent ATMs belonging to different banks, had been fitted with pinhole cameras designed to video tape customers keying in their PINs.

This morning, police released an image of a man taken from CCTV footage whom they believe may be able to assist them with their investigations.

The blond-haired man, wearing glasses and a black suit, appears to be walking through the food court in Queens Plaza.

Police were tipped off by a customer at the weekend who thought one of the ATMs looked strange, but detectives believe they were able to remove the devices just one hour after they were installed.

Detective Superintendent Brian Hay of the fraud squad said he suspected the two devices had been in the hands of criminals for at least five months.

"How many times they've been used, where they've been used, we don't know," he said.

"There have been losses incurred. We do know the data has been transferred to other countries and money has been taken out of compromised accounts in foreign countries.

"I don't believe we've seen the last of this yet."

Superintendent Hay said fraudsters would download the video recording and correlate the PIN entries with the card data extracted from the skimming device.

"It doesn't matter which bank owns the ATM, the crooks are actually targeting now a bank, but a certain model of ATM which they've developed a very unique and sophisticate ATM skimmer," he said.

He warned customers to check whether ATM card slots had been tampered with before withdrawing cash.

"When you go to an ATM look for a skimmer. Look at the entry point, make sure it's a nice integrated, sealed or one piece unit," he said.

"Make sure it doesn't look like there's an attachment to the facial plate. Grab that card entry point, give it a bit of a wiggle and make sure there's no flexion ... It can pop off in your hand."

Superintendent Hay also warned consumers to be wary of identity theft.

"Understand, that if you've been compromised it's not just your money that's been lost, but the crooks now have your identity," he said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on  1800 333 000 or crimestoppers.com.au.