Police are reminding people that ATM machines can be targeted by thieves who install fake card readers to steal information. The latest hit was on a machine at Mascoma Savings Bank, near Route 4 in Hartford.
Major Brad Vail, of the Hartford Police Department, says the skimming device was discovered just after noon on Saturday. Sometime around 6 a.m. the thief had attached a lookalike card reader over the real one, plus a pinhole camera, in order to skim personal information from bank cards. Although he was photographed on a surveillance camera, police so far have not identified the suspect.
“Unfortunately we don’t know if it’s somebody local. It could be folks that come up from out of state that do this all over the place and they work a particular area,” Vail says.
Vail says this kind of crime is becoming all too common. Hartford was also hit by an ATM skimmer last year, at a convenience store. He advises ATM users to look closely at the machine to make sure it doesn’t look unusual — for example, in Hartford, there were no lights on the card reader — and to shield the keyboard with one hand where ever and whenever they enter their PIN numbers.
He says anyone who used the machine between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12 should contact Mascoma Bank immediately, and, if the card was issued by another bank or credit card company, to contact those businesses to arrange to have bank accounts frozen.
