The South Bay area of California has seen a bit of a crime wave in the last three months. Thieves are ripping off thousands of dollars by ripping ATMs and gas stations in the Southern and Central part of the state. The crimes are simple in nature, and according to reports and the victims themselves, no one is aware until after the fact.
The wave of card related crime in Southern and Central California is showing no signs of slowing. (IMG: J.Anderson)
Since late march, there has been a wave of fraud in the Southern and Central parts of California. The crimes center on stolen Credit/Debit card numbers, ATM cards and their respective PINs. Using simple slip-on covers, small cameras, and other means police are still investigating, the criminals are ripping off consumers left and right. San Jose police, as well as the U.S. Secret Service and detectives in Los Altos, are tracking what is now reported as over $100,000 worth of Credit/Debit fraud in the last thee months.
The locations and focus on the types of crimes are varied. AM/PM stores and ACRO gas stations, according to San Jose police, have seen ATM and pump readers scammed. One couple lost $1500.00 over Memorial Day weekend after using their ATM at a local ARCO. Lunardi's Supermarket in Los Gatos, CA, is the site of the largest theft to date. There are a confirmed two-hundred thirty victims in this case which police know about, but there could be more. The police suspect that debit-card-readers were swapped out or the thieves installed small skimmers on the readers to collect PIN numbers and card information.
“So late March, I went to Lunardi's in Los Gatos (Which is across the street from our office). I've been there on a number of occasions because I like their sandwiches. I also used my ATM card for those transactions. A few weeks later while checking my bank account online, I noticed I was over $400 overdrawn,” said Mike Skyba, one of the victims of the carder spree, in his interview with The Tech Herald.
“I scrolled down the page and saw two very strange ATM withdrawals. One was in Corona, Ca (Down by San Diego) for $500 and the second was in Anaheim, Ca for $302 (Both posted on the same day!). I immediately called my bank and got my bank card canceled and filed a report for fraud which they in turn investigated.”
Mike told The Herald his story, including comments made by one police officer when asked if anyone had been caught related to the crimes. The officer explained to Mike that someone down in Southern California was caught and arrested with a large sum of fraud ATM cards and a huge cache of 20 dollar bills. He was arrested, booked, and thrown in jail. However, no hold was put on him and he was released on bail.
The person referenced, according to local news, was actually two people; Thai Nam Lieu, 30, and Haiau Han, 29, were arrested in Orange County, CA. The two were found with 25 blank ATM cards, ATM surveillance video, about 350,000 $20 bills and a hand-drawn map of ATMs in the area.
So what happened next and how did Mike feel? “[My] first reaction was utter shock, disbelief, and the feeling of utter violation. I couldn't focus on anything I was doing at work for the rest of the day. It's like one of those things you hear or read about in the news, but never think that it would happen to you. It makes you paranoid afterwards I'll say that much.”
Mike’s bank, Washington Mutual, took action as soon as he alerted him to the fraud. His money was returned after an investigation, which lasted a few days. “About 5 days later i had the money back in my account, and they then sent me a letter in the mail saying that they conducted their investigation and that the ATM withdrawals that were on my account were indeed fraudulent,” he said.
“Since then I've become a lot more paranoid and weary about where I use my bank card as an ATM rather than Credit," Mike said, explaining how he has changed over the incident and what he learned. "Anywhere that has an older system, I’m going to use the card as credit since it is more secure. Ultimately, it's scary to think how easy it is for someone to do this.”
Using your credit card to make purchases is the most secure way to do business these days. With the $50 limit of liability on most fraud claims, the risk is small. In addition, most credit cards offer zero liability, and in the case of fraud, all of your money is returned. Debit cards draw money directly from your account, and after that, you are at the mercy of your bank and need to work with them to resolve the issue.
None of the agencies involved would comment on their respective active investigations. They all advised caution when using your ATM card, and said you should monitor your accounts daily.
Here is an interesting link for an ATM scam, which shows you how simple something like this can be pulled off. http://www.snopes.com/fraud/atm/atmcamera.asp
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