New York thieves steal thousands with rigged ATMs

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - A sophisticated group of thieves used technical trickery to steal ATM card information -- and over $100,000 -- from customers at two New York City Washington Mutual branches.

The thieves rigged fake keypads and bank-card slots onto ATMs to gather card information and encoded the information on new cards, police say.

They then used the new, fraudulent cards for withdrawals from approximately 50 Washington Mutual accounts at other ATM locations.

The two Washington Mutual branches were on Canal Street in lower Manhattan and on Hylan Boulevard on Staten Island.

The bank encouraged customers to review their account transactions and balances and to contact them promptly if any unauthorized transactions were found. Washington Mutual can be reached at 1-800-788-7000.

Consumers are protected against bank fraud, and will be eligible for a complete refund when the bank finds that the transactions were illegal. Banks typically offer the aggrieved customer a line of credit until the charges can be proved.

See also:
Identity Theft Resource Center