An ATM fraud victim revealed she witnessed the fraudster take hundreds of dollars from her account.
In July, a woman named Erica was attending a festival when she realized a scammer, hundreds of miles away, had gained access to her credit card.
“I got a notification on my phone that $400 had been withdrawn from my bank account at the ATM,” Erika told local CBS affiliate WGME.
“It was amazing that someone could use my card when I already had my card,” Erika said.
Police revealed that a device known as a skimmer was placed on an ATM reader at the Atlantic Federal Credit Union branch in Topsham, Oregon.
Scammers have used this device to collect financial information from unsuspecting victims.
“Once they take the reader out, they have all the information, they start making fraudulent cards and then they go to different ATMs and start withdrawing money,” Topsham Police Chief Mark Hagan said.
The skimmer had been sitting in the ATM for about two weeks before authorities located it.
Hagan explained that recently it has become difficult to detect the device.
“The newer ones are much smaller, and they actually go right into the vent and are harder to detect,” Hagan said.
Atlantic Federal Credit Union explained in a statement issued by the station that as soon as they became aware of fraudulent activities, they launched an immediate investigation.
The bank was able to secure the accounts of affected members and contact those affected by the fraudster.
Erica was able to get her money back, but she’s not the only person affected by the skimmers.
Last month, it was revealed that more than 8,000 Americans in California had their credit card information stolen by an organized crime group.
The group was accused of using skimmers to capture customers’ PIN numbers and creating fake debit cards to steal from people’s accounts, according to local CW affiliate KTLA-TV.
Romanian law enforcement spent three years working with the FBI to track down members of the group.
50 people were detained within the organization and charged with aggravated identity theft, visa and bank fraud.
During the arrest, police were able to uncover 11 vehicles and $1 million in cash and cryptocurrency.
US has reached out to Atlantic Federal Credit Union for comment.