The Hollister Police Department is warning residents about a new
scam intended to rob people of their ATM cards and money.
The Hollister Police Department is warning residents about a new scam intended to rob people of their ATM cards and money.
Hollister Police Chief Bill Pierpoint said residents should be wary of the new con game supposedly headed for this area.
Disguising their felonious intentions as an act of charity, the thieves will stand in line behind their victim by offering to help with their ATM transaction, which is how they get close enough to view the victim’s personal identification number.
The thief inserts a thin, clear, plastic sleeve into an ATM card slot. When a customer inserts their card, the sleeve prevents the machine from reading the card’s magnetic strip and the ATM will ask the customer to reenter their PIN, Pierpoint said. That allows the thief to figure out the PIN by watching what keys the victim enters as he offers help, the chief said.
The scam is successful when, frustrated at not being able to get their card out of the slot, the customer thinks it’s stuck and goes looking for help. The thieves then remove the plastic sleeve – complete with the victim’s ATM card – and empty their bank account.
Pierpoint said the best way to avoid being a victim of the scam is to run a finger along the ATM card slot before inserting a card. The sleeve has a couple of tiny prongs that the thieves use to remove it from the slot, and ATM users can feel the prongs and warn the bank.
Pierpoint said the ATM thieves have not yet hit this area but similar incidents have been reported in neighboring communities.
