ST. LOUIS – The latest ATM skimmer device that can clone your bank debit card data is made of thin plastic that’s hidden inside the card reader.
”I was surprised how small it is,” Detective Andre Nikolov, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, said. “And that they were homemade.”
Nikolov uncovered an alleged crime family connected to the latest device.
A picture of a compromised system shows how hard it is to detect. In one example, you can see a slot in the back where criminals hide a pinhole camera. The camera allows them to record you entering your pin.
“After going through different video, coordinating with different agencies all over the country, we found that it was a Romanian crime family,” Nikolov said.
St. Louis has been targeted by Romanian organized crime. Last year, St. Charles police nabbed a group of alleged Romanian jewel thieves. The year before, Arnold police busted a Romanian sleight of hand theft ring.
The latest St. Louis police sting found the Romanian ATM skimmer suspects working out of a short-term rental home in north St. Louis County. Police arrested two people who are now charged. Three others were captured in Texas. Police need your help locating one suspect seen in surveillance pictures. Two other suspects may have left the country.
“They also use a lot of fake identification, so their names are different,” Nikolov said. “They might actually get arrested in one name but that’s not actually who they are.”
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Police need you to call more than just your bank when you notice a strange charge.
“If we don’t know about it, we can’t hold people accountable for it,” Nikolov said.
That includes a small charge, which the detective said could be a warning.
“A lot of times what these guys are doing is they’re going to use the ATM and they’re doing inquiries just to see how much money is in there,” Nikolov said.
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