When Brianna DeCarish of Port St. Lucie goes to her ATM, she's careful.
“The first thing I do is make sure nobody’s around. I make sure that it’s safe," said DeCarish.
Now Brianna says she's going to pay more attention to the machine itself. A skimming device was found Sunday at the ATM she uses at the Bank Of America branch on St. Lucie West Boulevard.
“I think that’s crazy. I think we should have better security on that," said DeCarish.
When a customer went to put his ATM card into the access door, he found it went into the card reader further than usual. He discovered a second card reader had been glued on top. Detectives say next time you use an ATM, pull on the plastic where you insert your card.
“It could be loose. It could be a situation where it looks like something was added on to the casing of the ATM," said Port St. Lucie Sgt. Frank Sabol.
Inside the bank, a second panel with a camera was found over the ATM. Detectives say you should always cover the keypad when you enter your PIN number.
In recent weeks, there have been a number of incidents on the Treasure Coast where ATM skimming devices have been found. Five Bank of America ATM’s in Indian River County were targeted earlier this month. Detectives there are working with the FBI and sharing a possible suspect photo with other area law enforcement agencies.
“It’s weird that people, regular people have the technology to do that," said Chantz Cooper of Port St. Lucie.
So far, no victims have come forward in any of these cases. If you see something suspicious at your ATM, contact police and bank officials.
EARLIER STORY:
Police in Port St. Lucie said a skimmer was found Sunday evening at a Bank of America.
Around 6:25 p.m., officers went to the bank, located in the 1600 block of NW St. Lucie West Blvd., to investigate the skimmer after it was found by a person trying to use an ATM.
The man who found the object told police that he put his ATM card into the access door to the ATM and noticed that the card went into the card reader further than normal.
He then examined the device and found that there was a skimmer put over top the original card reader.
Police collected the skimming device and also found an added panel that contained a battery-operated camera that was installed above the ATM key pad.
It's unclear if this case is connected to five skimming devices that were found at bank ATMs in Indian River County earlier this month.
Officers are warning residents to be extra observant and to look for evidence of tampering to ATM machines.
The devices that are attached by the criminal will look like they belong; however they are usually easily pulled off of the card reader.
Police said the thief will at times also install a panel containing a camera system on top of the ATM so the camera can read the numbers being inputted in the ATM.
Officers encourage anyone encountering what they believe to be a skimming device to immediately contact 911 or bank officials.
