Savannah-Chatham Metro Police recovered another skimmer device from a local ATM, on May 9.
Skimmers are devices placed over or around the card insertion slots at ATMs, gas pumps, and the like. While the machine reads a card’s information, so does the skimmer, but skimmers also come paired with pinhole cameras that record PIN numbers as they are entered.
In the last three weeks, skimmers have been used at two different locations in Savannah. The first time, police were able to recover the skimmer before it caused any harm, but the second time, thieves got to the skimmer before the police.
Financial crimes detectives have these suggestions to prevent getting skimmed:
• Pay close attention to ATMs when using them.
• Make sure none of the ATM parts can be removed. (Many skimmers are taped or glued on.)
• If you are going to be traveling outside of the area, make a habit of notifying your bank. That way, if fraudulent charges show up from outside the area, the bank will know to notify you.
• Check your accounts often. The sooner you catch the charges, the sooner you can notify your bank.
