$70K And Counting Stolen Through ATM Skimmer Scheme: Howell Police (UPDATE)

HOWELL, NJ — An ATM skimmer placed at a Monmouth County bank has compromised hundreds of accounts and led to fraudulent transactions worth more than $70,000, Howell police said Friday.

Howell Detective Sgt. Christian Antunez said the total fraud as a result of the skimming scheme "is likely much, much higher."

Antunez said Howell police were contacted by representatives of Manasquan Bank located at 1050 Route 9 in Howell on Sept. 11, reporting the theft and fraud.

Bank representatives noticed that the surveillance camera affixed to the ATM was blurry, and the investigation revealed one of the suspects placing some kind of lip balm on the lens to distort the image. Then, the suspects proceeded to make numerous ATM withdrawals from multiple account holders in quick succession, Antunez said.

As Howell police investigated, he said, Howell Detective Robert Ortenzi discovered the same two suspects also conducted numerous ATM withdrawals at Manasquan Bank on Newtons Corner Road in Howell, as well as Manasquan Bank branches in Manasquan and Wall; First Constitution Bank in Fair Haven, and several other banks and ATM locations in the area.

Ortenzi began working with Manasquan police investigators and they found the same suspects placed an ATM skimmer device at the Manasquan Bank branch in Manasquan on three separate occasions: Sept. 1-4; Sept. 8-11, and Sept. 21.

The ATM skimmer captured the information of hundreds of accounts on those three occasions, Antunez said. Manasquan Bank employees in Manasquan located the device on Sept. 21 and removed it, while also notifying Manasquan Police, he said.

Antunez said more than 100 fraudulent withdrawals at the Howell branch have been traced to the same two suspects from Sept. 9 through Oct. 1, and the overwhelming majority are from other countries, including Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

These are not people whose card information was compromised by the skimmer found at the Manasquan branch, Antunez said.

"Those accounts are subject to fraud at any time," Antunez said.

It is imperative for anyone who used the ATM at the Manasquan Bank branch located at 185 East Main Street in Manasquan during the dates mentioned to notify their banks and take immediate to protect their accounts from fraud as recommended by their bank.

Antunez said many more fraudulent withdrawals happened at other banks in Monmouth County and at least one occurred in Middlesex County.

Antunez said the skimmer is part of an elaborate international scheme and that hundreds of ATM users have been affected.

Howell police are hoping the public can identify the two suspects. Antunez said they have used two rentals cars from a rental agency in Brooklyn that have since been returned. One suspect has used the name Michele Toto and presented an Italian driver’s license to rent the vehicle, however police believe that likely is a false identity, he said. Anyone with information can email Ortenzi at rortenzi@howellpolice.org or call him at 732-938-4575 (ext. 2894). Anonymous tips can also be submitted via their anonymous tip line www.p3tips.com.

For those unfamiliar, an ATM skimmer is a device placed over an ATM card slot that appears to be a part of the ATM. The device captures the account information for every card that passes through it while allowing the customer to proceed with the transaction without interruption. A secondary device, usually a pinhole camera or false numerical pad placed over the real one, captures the victim’s PIN as the customer enters it," Antunez said.

How can you avoid ATM skimmers? PC Mag offers these tips for spotting on:

• Look for obvious signs of tampering at the top of the ATM, near the speakers, the side of the screen, the card reader itself, and the keyboard. If something looks different, such as a different color or material, graphics that aren't aligned correctly, or anything else that doesn't look right, don't use that ATM.
• Pull on the card reader. Because skimmers often are placed on top of the real reader, a skimmer will pull loose.
• If you're at a bank with more than one ATM machine, compare them. If one has a flashing card entry to show where you should insert the ATM card and the other ATM has a plain reader slot, you know something is wrong. Since most skimmers are glued on top of the existing reader, they will obscure the flashing indicator.
• If the keyboard doesn't feel right, there may be a PIN-snatching overlay, so don't use it.

Editor's note: This article was updated to clarify that the ATM skimmer was found in Manasquan, and that the fraudulent ATM withdrawals so far are from card information stolen elsewhere. The clarification was based on further information provided by police.

Photos provided by Howell Township Police