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Guard your ATM info, beware of scams
Some tips on how to avoid inadvertently giving up your ATM information:
• Take a look when you use your debit card at an ATM or gas station. Does anything look out of place? If your intuition tells you something’s wrong, you can always use another machine.
• Cover the keypad when you punch in your personal identification number.
• Check your balance on your bank slips, and your bank statements. Question any transactions that seem unusual or you don’t remember making.
• Keep an eye on your card when you give it to an employee at a business. Occasionally, unscrupulous employees have been known to steal debit card information.
Shoppers will be out in force in the next few days looking for holiday bargains, but Yuba-Sutter officials are warning against those seeking a more destructive bargain: Your ATM card information.
Louie Mendoza, Yuba County's agricultural commissioner and director of weights and measures, said he was taken aback after he saw a presentation on a wide variety of scanners, hidden cameras and other devices identity thieves have attached to ATMs and readers at gas stations.
"It could happen anywhere," said Mendoza, though the presentation was centered on what law enforcement in San Luis Obispo had discovered in recent months. "One of the concerns we have is we want people to keep their information safe."
The cameras and devices range from a reader installed in front of the typical slot where one inserts a debit card to pinhole cameras aimed at a keypad and hidden in a false facade. In one case, a sign assuring customers of the safety of their accounts had a camera hidden behind it.
In some cases, Mendoza said, the cameras and phony readers transmit information wirelessly to someone nearby, who then uses it for identity theft or to rack up purchases against the account. Weekends and holidays, when bank or gas station employees are less likely to notice something amiss, are especially popular for thieves.
Mendoza said he'd emphasize he'd received no reports recently of any such scanners or devices being used in Yuba County. Sutter County Assistant District Attorney Jana McClung also said she hadn't heard of such thefts happening recently in the area.
"But especially if you're seeing it down south, it'll creep up here eventually," she said. About two years ago, a ring of debit card thieves based in Sacramento were caught after one of their devices was found in Yuba City, she said, so there's precedent for being cautious.
"We've gotten to the point with ATMs and card readers that we don't even give it a second thought," she said. "That's when they move in."
She and Mendoza said they'd recommend consumers take notice of anything unusual on a machine where they'd put in debit cards, such as what seems like extraneous parts. If there's something that doesn't belong, contact law enforcement or an employee where the device is located.
Mendoza said he'd also recommend checking one's bank statements for unexplained charges.
"Sometimes it's easy to overlook a couple $100 in your account," he said.
McClung said she'd take caution a step beyond machines, to being mindful when you give a card to someone to charge out of sight at a business.
Mohammad Aram of Yuba City said he monitors his bank statements, but he's never had a problem.
"You've always got to take precautions," he said, after he used the ATM at the US Bank in Yuba City on Wednesday afternoon. "There can be a lot of hidden charges with bills sometimes."
