Crooks strike again, using bogus ATM devices

Anyone who used Bank of America automated teller machines in Newbury Park or Thousand Oaks in December should double-check their bank statements for possible fraudulent charges, Detective Eric Buschow said.

Police have discovered card skimmers- - devices that cover the slots where bank cards are inserted into ATMs—at some banks.

Bank cards will still go into the machines and customers get their money, but as the card enters the device, the number is skimmed- or stolen- by an added mechanism and stored, to be retrieved by criminals later, Buschow said.

A tiny camera that broadcasts images to a nearby laptop computer was also installed at the ATMs, so thieves could also capture the customer's personal information number, he said.

The recent thefts of people's bank card numbers and PINs occurred at the Bank of America ATMs, but this could happen at any automated teller machine, Buschow said.

Police are asking ATM customers to check their bank statements and inform their banks about any suspicious withdrawals. They also encourage people to be aware when they go to an ATM to make sure all of the equipment on the machine is permanently attached.

"If it pulls off easily, it doesn't belong on the machine," Buschow said.

He said the skimmer devices are held on to the ATMs with double-stick tape that comes off easily.

"If someone finds something suspicious on an ATM they should first contact the bank. There's a number to call on the ATM if it's after hours," Buschow said.

Also, be aware of people in the parking lot showing an interest in what you're doing, especially at night when there's no one else around, he said.

Police were contacted about these incidents after a regular bank customer noticed some suspicious activities when he went to Bank of America in Newbury Park on Dec. 21. He noticed the ATM looked odd when he put his card inside to withdraw some cash. He went ahead and made the withdrawal and got his money, but was still wary of the new look to the ATM. He also noticed three men acting suspiciously sitting in a gray Jeep Cherokee in the bank parking lot. When he notified authorities, a skimmer device and a camera were discovered on the ATM.

Police suggest customers cover the keypad when entering their personal identification number.

"They need the PIN to get into your account," Buschow said.

Thieves used the information they gathered at one ATM to encode another card and used it at a different location to drain the accounts of cash, he said.

In April 2007, information captured by a skimmer on a Thousand Oaks ATM led to 50 customers' accounts being accessed in several locations throughout Southern California, Buschow said.