Teen Fights Crime, Saves Bank

[DonkeyKongerko]

Bank hero gets calculator

A big minus ... Luke's 'reward' 

 

By RICHARD WHITE

A BRAVE teenager who saved a bank thousands of pounds by foiling a cash machine scam was rewarded yesterday — with a plastic calculator.

 

Luke Bridges, 17, tore a false fascia off an ATM machine then fled from crooks waiting nearby who had put it there.

 

He ran home with the device — used to “skim” customers’ PIN codes and clone cards — and called police.

 

NatWest, owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland — which is worth £54.9BILLION — said they would reward the teenager for his bravery.

 

But when he opened a parcel from the bank he found a plastic calculator worth a few Pounds.

 

Furious HSBC cashier Luke said: “I plan to send this thing back with a letter telling the bank they can use it to work out how much money I saved them.

 

“It looks like the sort of thing they dish out free to bank staff.

 

“I didn’t expect much but I risked personal injury removing the false fascia and outrunning the crooks.

 

“I thought NatWest might give me some sort of monetary reward as a goodwill gesture.

 

“It’s disappointing but says a lot about what banks value the most — saving themselves money.”

 

The Sun revealed how Luke foiled the fraud scam earlier this month in Westcliff-On-Sea, Essex.

 

NatWest claimed they had sent Luke CD vouchers, which he denied.

 

A NatWest spokesman said: “We are very grateful to Mr Bridges for helping prevent cash machine users falling victim to this fraud but we would never encourage anyone to put their safety at risk by attempting to remove any such device.

 

“We advise anyone who notices anything unusual about a cash machine to report it to the bank or the police immediately.

 

“We have written to Mr Bridges expressing our gratitude and have sent him a gift and CD vouchers.

 

“We have also re-emphasised the dangers of removing such devices.

 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005580123,00.html

 

Maybe because he works for the wrong bank?