A downtown bank employee noticed that the ATM looked funny. It did: Another “skimming” ring had struck New Haven.
The employee contacted the New Haven police and the U.S. Secret Service. Soon cops and federal agents came downtown and dismantled two devices installed to steal people’s ATM data and their personal identification numbers (PINs).
The incident occurred a few weeks ago, putting investigators on the trail of a potential international theft ring. It was the latest in a string of so-called “ATM skimming” schemes to hit the state since 2009.
Members of a Secret Service-led task force have been racing to keep on top of the skimmer-scammers, many of whom come from Eastern Europe. Law enforcement has been making a point of meeting with bankers, community groups, and local cops to get the word out: Watch out for micro-devices that the skimmers install at ATMs. Let the local police and the feds know about it immediately.
Agents have also been advising customers to avoid becoming skim-scammed by covering the keypad when typing in their PINs; and by pulling on ATM card-readers before slipping in their cards, to make sure nothing is loose (which might mean that a tracking device had been added). Click on the video at the top of the story to watch Detective Sgt. Elisa Tuozzoli, head of New Haven police’s financial crimes unit, demonstrate.
The New Haven incident illustrated the fruits of that four-year-old campaign. Because the bank employee notified authorities quickly, they were able to prevent anyone’s data from being stolen — and cash from being withdrawn from their accounts. The feds have arrested more than 30 people in alleged skim-scams over the past four years, according to Bob Barrett, resident agent in charge of the New Haven U.S. Secret Service office.
The task force is still investigating the New Haven case, so officials can’t discuss the details yet, Barrett said. The skimming rings tend to cross state lines before finishing collecting their hauls; cases have emerged throughout the country. This past March U.S. District Court Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven sentenced a Turkish national to 59 months in jail for participating in one skimming ring that installed devices at 11 ATMs in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. An international ring in one recent case allegedly collected over $3 million from over 6,000 bank accounts before the feds caught up with it. Click here to read about an alleged Romanian ring indicted in Pittsburgh.
In an interview at New Haven police headquarters, task force members used devices captured in other recent local cases to demonstrate how the skimmers carry out their scams.
“We have seen this throughout Connecticut,” Barrett said. “This is an emerging trend. This is relatively new. … They’re getting more sophisticated [after each arrest]. We try to get ahead of it.”
Paul Bass Photo
The thieves use two devices. They slip into an ATM site and install them fast.
The first device reads your ATM card. The thieves install a device at one of two places you swipe it: At a reader that enables you to open the door to a locked ATM station. Or at the reader right on the ATM that lets you begin a transaction.
Det. Mark Solomon of the Greenwich police department, a member of the Secret Service financial crimes task force who is working the New Haven case, is pictured above with one of the recaptured devices from a previous incident. The device is designed to blend in with the ATM.
A magnetic strip on the reader records your name and account number. It doesn’t get your PIN. The skimmers need your PIN.
They capture the PIN through a second device, the long plastic strip held by Barrett in the above photo. The skimmers screw it in either at the top of the ATM console above the keypad or higher up in the room.
The front of the strip blends in with the machine, looks like part of it.
Small cell phone batteries line the back of it, to power a tiny camera, or “micro-video recorder.”
“Tiny” indeed means tiny. This photo shows the size of the pinhole in the front of the device through which the camera records your fingers typing in your PIN.
That’s why Sgt. Tuozzoli suggests typing in your PIN with one hand, covering it with the other. That hides your PIN from the camera.
After installing the devices, the thieves generally wait at least several hours or up to a day before returning to dismantle them, according to Barrett.
Then they download the data from the magnetic strip and watch the video, pairing the PINs with the other card data. Using special software, they “clone” new cards. They can use any card, including a gift card, that has a magnetic stripe.
Then they visit multiple ATMs to withdraw cash from the accounts.
In addition to taking care when withdrawing money and noticing suspicious possible additions to the machines, you should let the bank or the cops know if you see pairs of men near an ATM watching the activity there, Barrett advised. And check your bank statements regularly to make sure you can account for all the withdrawals; let the bank know promptly about any suspicious transactions.
That kind of information enables the task force to stay a step ahead of the skim-scammers, according to Barrett. And to produce happy endings like the New Haven incident — in which no one lost any money.
Some banks such as TD Bank has already joined the fight against skimmers by not having the embossed numbers on the credit/debit cards. It's just flat. If you already have a TD Bank card, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. All in all, the video/article was very informational. I will be sure to remember the tips/tricks.