Rising Thefts from ATMs

A group of computer-literate thieves has been stealing thousands of dollars from New Yorkers whose accounts can be accessed from ATMs. Their scam involves stealing the customer's personal identification number (PIN) and then using it at an ATM to drain cash from the account. While the scams started in New York in the summer, the "MO" (as we crime writers call it) now stretches across the country. In his article in the New York Times, Jacob H. Fries reports that members of the U.S. Secret Service say they expect to make arrests soon.

The thieves first steal the PIN as a cardholder uses the card, usually in a grocery, deli or shopping mall. Investigators believe that the thieves used small, hidden video cameras to record the PINs as consumers punched the numbers into ATMs to get cash. The thieves did not stake out ATMs at banks because they generally have more surveillance. In other cases the thieves attached a recording device to the ATMs to gather the PINs. Once they had obtained the PINs, the thieves manufactured ATM cards with the PINs and used those cards at ATMs from hundreds of customers' accounts.

Bankers in New York that were surveyed reported that they had refunded money fraudulently taken from their customers' accounts. One customer discovered that $501 had been withdrawn from his account during a day that the card had never left his pocket. The thieves tried four other times during the day, but he was saved further problems because the bank had a daily limit on withdrawals.