Two apparent ATM card skimmers have been discovered in Manhattan — and a third in Los Angeles — putting at risk the account information of hundreds of customers.
The skimmers — illegal devices that read the magnetic strip on your card and fit over the legitimate card slots on ATM machines — were found at two Chase Banks by savvy bank customers.
Skimmers have long been talked about as a popular way for thieves to steal someone’s ID but have rarely been found. The New York discoveries follow the LA find and the subsequent move by a popular Web site to unmask other skimmers.
It also highlights the growing national problem of ID theft.
“I was at the Chase Bank on the corner of 2nd Avenue and East 10th Street, where the old Second Avenue Deli used to be,” said 34-year-old New Yorker, Sean Siebel. “I was on my way to get a haircut and stopped to get cash but noticed something was wrong with the ATM card slot.”
When Siebel, who works for Microsoft, inserted his card the machine produced an error message. “Then my card came out really slowly like it was being obstructed,” Siebel added.
He jiggled the card slot to try to get his card out and the plastic front piece, which he thought looked odd, came away easily in his hand. “It was just stuck on with tape — there was a magnetic-card reader inside and a USB port.”
Siebel said he took his find inside the bank and asked for help. Maria Pascuas, the assistant branch manager, “immediately freaked out,” he said, telling Siebel she had heard of similar devices elsewhere but not in New York City.
Pascuas then called Chase security and sent Siebel on his way. “I asked her if she wanted my details and if I should file a police report but she said no,” Siebel said.
He has since heard nothing official from Chase and nothing from the cops.
Tom Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, in Chicago, said the bank “takes these matters very seriously” and assured customers they would not be responsible for any charges or withdrawals made without their consent.
Once back on his way to the barber, Siebel remembered from a Web site story he read that the skimmer devices come in two parts — a reader, which he found, and a camera, which is often concealed behind a round mirror on the ATM.
“So I ran back to the bank and not only were there two mirrors on the ATM, but people were still using it, the bank had not even shut it down,” an astonished Siebel said.
He said he tore the fake mirror off the ATM and went inside to ask to speak to Pascuas a second time. She again failed to call the cops and said Chase security would deal with it.
“I was stunned,” Siebel said.
Kelly added that Pascuas “acted appropriately” as it is bank procedure to contact internal security who then work with law enforcement. He said chase had 14,000 ATMs nationwide and “skimmers have happened at many places.”
The next evening, fellow New Yorker and former Pratt student Nick McGlynn, 26, found a similar device on another Chase ATM, this time uptown on the corner of 63rd and Broadway.
The New York discoveries came just days after a third person pulled a skimmer off the ATM at his local WaMu bank near Wilshire Boulevard in West Hollywood.
Ben Popken, co-executive editor at online consumer advocate consumerist.com, the Web site that first revealed the WaMu discovery, cautioned anyone finding a skimmer to call 911 and let the cops deal with it.
“Scammers who operate the cameras and skimmers might be waiting nearby so it is probably best to call 911 if you find one,” he said.