Last week, two men were arrested near Oklahoma City and accused of identity theft, bad credit card and theft over $ 500.00. These men, who are from Romania and are in the US illegally, have installed a skimmer on an ATM in Frederick, Maryland, and the device used to steal account numbers of more than 20 victims. A small video camera was placed near the ATM to record PINs. Once the skimmers had the account numbers and PIN, they quickly created fake cards, which used to withdraw funds from nearby convenience stores. When the men were arrested, they run the same scam in Oklahoma, and police say they believe the men are linked to an identity theft ring based on multistate California, who stole nearly one billion dollars.
A skimmer is a device that records data on a credit or a magnetic stripe debit card. It often appears as a flat screen safely attached to the front of the ATM. Most victims do not notice that everything is AMIS until it is too late. The police also point out that gas pumps are Targed by skimmers with increasing frequency because they tend to be busier than ATMs and customers tend to be less suspicious. So when swiping your ATM card, be extremely aware of anything suspicious about the machine itself. And consider the identity protection against theft or credit report monitoring to protect against unauthorized transactions.