Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 21, 1993 TAG: 9305210128
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HARTFORD, CONN. LENGTH: Medium
Adding customer fingerprints, watermarks or holograms to ATM cards is being considered by the Electronic Funds Transfer Association, which represents ATM companies, said Margaret Steeves of the Yankee 24 ATM network, which has 3,700 ATMs across New England, New York and New Jersey.
Steeves said Thursday that customers should have no reason to distrust an ATM as long as it includes the logo of a legitimate bank and does not appear to be temporary.
That wasn't the case with a fake ATM hooked up by brazen thieves in a suburban Hartford mall late last month. So far, losses total more than $60,000.
The machine spit back each customer's card, but only after recording the account numbers and security codes.
The gang has been traveling the East Coast using counterfeit cards encoded with the stolen information to make hundreds of illegal withdrawals at other ATMs. They've struck in New York, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia, authorities said.
The fake machine, believed to have been stolen from a warehouse, apparently dispensed cash for a couple of days after it was hooked up on April 24. The thieves hauled it away on May 9, a day before the scam was discovered.
Customers of 10 Connecticut banks had money drained from their accounts. The banks, which In Sunday's Business section: Despite security problems, Americans are hooked on teller machines. made restitution, have deactivated the cards of hundreds of customers whose accounts were compromised or who may have used the bogus ATM.
Authorities have retrieved 24 of the phony bank cards. ATMs kept them because the numbers had been deactivated.
Police also say they have recovered one of the trucks used in the scam. It was rented in Waterbury, Conn., with a phony American Express card, police said.
The banking industry has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the thieves, who banking officials say probably were in the industry or worked as ATM service people.
The U.S. Secret Service, which is leading the investigation, has released composite sketches of three men.
"This was a combination of ingenuity and technology. We've never seen anything like it, nothing even close," said Ted Marchitello, agent in charge of the Secret Service's Connecticut office.
by CNB