Police Search for Bank of America Identity Thieves

The Glen Cove Police Department seeks the public's help in nabbing suspects from a criminal gang who authorities believe are responsible for inserting card skimming devices at 10 Bank of America branches in the North Shore area. The suspects, police said, struck at the branch on Glen Street in Glen Cove in January. 

According to city detectives, the card skimming device allows the suspects to steal account information from Bank of America ATM users because it appears as a legitimate part of the machine. After ATM users swipe their cards, the fake device also reads and retains the information. The scam, police said, includes a hidden video camera, which then enables the suspects to watch users enter their personal identification number. The act, city detectives said, is one of many that criminals use to steal account information from unsuspecting ATM users. 

"When the suspects go back to the bank and remove the illegal equipment, they take it back and match up the account info from the skimmer with the video of [ATM users] entering [their] PIN number," said Detective Thomas Fitzpatrick, the commanding officer of the department's detective division. "They can now make up new cards with the information recorded on the magnetic strip and can then use those cards with [a victim's] PIN at any ATM to withdraw [a victim's] money."

Daniel Foster, a Bank of America security specialist, said that officials at the bank closed and re-issued 195 accounts as a precaution in January after the device was discovered at the Glen Street branch. City police said bank representatives notified the department on March 3 that the device was placed at the branch's ATM on either Jan. 30 or 31. Bank officials then notified the department about the additional incidents at other branches along the North Shore on March 15. 

Foster said, however, that bank authorities are still unsure how many accounts may have been compromised but they know that the card skimming incidents have taken place several times since the first incident in the city.

The suspects, police said, are a part of an Eastern European descent criminal gang that travels throughout the I-95 corridor from New York to Florida to commit such scams.

Police urge residents to look at the attached surveillance video stills of one of the suspects from the Glen Cove incident and call the department at (516) 676-1000 if they recognize her face or see her tampering with an ATM.