Customer finds skimming device at Pasco ATM

The Bank of America customer had trouble getting his card into the drive-up ATM on Saturday morning, Pasco County Sheriff's Detective Natalie McSwane said outside the sheriff's administrative offices today.

The customer surveyed the machine at the River Crossing branch at 5242 Little Road and realized the slot was loose. The 58-year-old New Port Richey man was able to remove the device. He suspected it was part of a high-tech skimming scheme, and took it to another bank branch that was open. Officials there realized it indeed was a skimming device and called the sheriff's office.

Skimmers do exactly what the name implies, said McSwane; they skim debit card or credit card numbers, essentially swiping them right off the magnetic strip. A hidden "pin-hole" camera then records the card's owner entering the personal identification number.

From the skimmer, thieves can actually retrieve the card numbers and put them on another card that has a magnetic strip - even a driver's license, McSwane said. They just wipe out the information on one strip and replace it with the new information. With the PIN, they now have access to the victim's credit card or bank accounts.

In this case - thought to be the first reported in Pasco despite ATM skimming being common elsewhere - no customers have reported a loss to their accounts, McSwane said.

Pasco detectives are searching for two people they believe are involved in the number heist. Bank surveillance cameras caught foggy images of the men.

Sheriff's officials say the first man was driving what appeared to be a Dodge minivan when he placed the device about 8:35 a.m. Saturday. That suspect, according to sheriff's office spokesman Kevin Doll, was trailed by an associate who was driving a four-door BMW.

A customer found the skimming device at 8:42 a.m. About an hour later, the suspects returned to the ATM and removed a pinhole camera that had not been found by the customer.

The PINs are useless without the skimming device that authorities now have, McSwane said. Sheriff's forensic technicians will process the device to try to find fingerprints, she said.

McSwane said the public should be aware that these devices exist and should take precautions.

"Skimmers are actually very common. You can buy them on the Internet. It's amazing," she said.

The skimmers and cameras take only moments to install, McSwane said, and often go undetected, but usually there are clues. Thieves often practice installation of the devices until they do it for real. The tiny cameras are hidden, sometimes behind pamphlet containers, so they get a clear shot of the key pad.

Some red flags that there could be trouble include a customer having trouble inserting his card into an ATM or part of the slot seems to be loose and can easily be removed. McSwane suggests that card users cover up the keypad when inputting their PIN.

Once the skimmers and cameras are retrieved by thieves ,they often don't waste time hitting the stores and Internet.

"They will make purchases on your card as soon as possible," McSwane said.

Anyone who saw suspicious activity at the River Crossing Bank of America Bank Saturday morning of is asked to contact Detective Natalie McSwane at 1-800-854-2862, Ext. 7291.