Two Men Charged With Placing Skimmer On Maryland ATM
Two men "of no fixed address" were charged in Maryland earlier this month with tampering with an ATM and skimming funds. The men, currently in custody in Oklahoma for similar crimes, allegedly added a skimmer and camera to an ATM at a Maryland PNC bank in April, but police weren't notified of the tampering until May 20th.
The ATM had been rigged in April with a device that recorded customers' credit card numbers, police said. Officials believed a video camera had been placed near the ATM to record customers' PIN numbers.
The information thus obtained was used to withdraw money from a number of locations in Maryland and surrounding states, police said.
They face similar charges in California. Apparently they got around quite a bit, on other people's money of course.
The only part that surprises us is that it took at least three weeks for PNC to notice the problem and report it. Remember to remain vigilant for skimmers no matter where you use an ATM, even in a bank lobby—you never know if that bank's employees are aware of the skimmer problem and keep an eye out for this sort of thing.
"Two charged with ATM skimming in Frederick" [FrederickNewsPost.com] (Thanks to Darren!)
(Photos: JOE M500 and RatRanch)
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Comments:
Hope those assholes get prison sentences in all states and that it's well publicized.
The banks and other owners of ATMs with skimmers should have to take some responsibility if they don't notice (within a reasonable time) that there has been tampering. It really shouldn't be hard for an employee/owner to check an ATM at least once daily. If someone is going to the back if it to load/unload with cash then it just takes another minute to check the front.
@Shoelace: I agree that banks should check their own machines daily, but I don't know that small businesses will know what to watch for. Banks should be trained to recognize such things though.
I always check atms when i need to withdraw some cash. You never know what's on there.
I hope they get harsher punishments and burn in hell for skimming citizens for their hard-earned $.
JennQPublic: The banks in the area knew about the ATM weeks before it was public (I work at a bank and we got a memo from the higher-ups who share stuff like this with rival bank higher-ups). Most are trained to look out for it.
The ATM in question is near a Roy Rogers, one of those stand-alone ATMs. Tellers are to check ATMs that are connected to the branch building for deposits, fill cash, and rogue atm cards, not standalone ATMs.
I would assume an outside company such as AT Systems, Garda, or Brinks fills the standalone ATMs (that's how it is with an M&T ATM inside a gas station around here). Banks aren't going to send an employee to check standalone ATMs for skimmers (security threat and wasted manpower, especially for ATMs that are a long way away from a branch). Hell, we have to watch out for people following us when going from home to work to avoid kidnappings/hostage situations (it's happened).
It'd be too easy to sit in a busy parking lot where a branch is, watching who gets there first and who leaves last to figure out who the employees are, then following them home or to a standalone ATM.
Safe(er) ATMs are the ones physically connected to the branch building, be it in the first drive thru lane (where it's attached to the building itself), or another lane (has it's own box, but obviously on bank property and easily accessible to bank employees). Most of these ATMs have alarms that trigger very easily, plus there's cameras everywhere.
I feel "of no fixed address" should be a tag on The Consumerist. It'd definitely get some use from some of the crime-related stories on this site!
@tbax929: Pretty much what i check for is to see if the atm slot for the card is loose in any way, if so then if you pull hard enough the fake one should pop right off. I also feel around under parts near the card to make sure there are no cameras (other than the one that's already installed for security reasons). Knock on wood I've been doing this for quite some time and haven't got my info stolen. Thing is now they're starting to use software instead of hardware now to get the info.
@Derek Bentley: I had something similar happen where although they didn't disclose the location, it was later deduced to be the McGill Bookstore.
@The Marionette: I do the same thing by pulling on the card reader. Now I have the fear of being charged for tampering in case I break the thing or if there is some sort of detection like the tilt on a pinball machine.
Just a few weeks ago I got a notification from our bank that they were investigating a similar skimming crime. They quickly issued me new cards. Luckily, they didn't have a chance to use my information. This is in Canada. Who knows if it's related. Probably not.