Bronxville Police Remove 'Skimmer' and Hidden Camera from Village ATM

The is investigating a bank scamming scheme as of Wednesday afternoon, after devices designed to capture debit card and personal identification numbers were found at an ATM in the village.

It appears that at sometime on Sunday, Sept. 25, the devices—which include a "skimmer" and hidden camera—were detected and reported by a customer using the ATM at the HSBC branch in Bronxville located at 74 Pondfield Road. Both were quickly removed by the Police Department and secured as evidence.

BootsnAll, an online travel company, describes "skimmers" as devices placed over the slot where one would insert a debit card at an ATM machine or self-serve gas station. These devices are designed to look exactly like the real machine they are "covering," and are sometimes even more detailed than the original machine to further conceal the skimmer.

When a customer inserts a card into an ATM outfitted with this type of device, a reader inside of the skimmer records the information on the card's magnetic strip. Coupled with a small hidden camera, which is used to capture PIN numbers, the skimmer gives the culprit access to the customer's bank account. 

Because ATM skimmers are placed over existing card slots on real and legitimate cash machines, transactions will often go through without the customer ever noticing anything has happened. On some occasions, transations are denied and the customer receives an error message, although the message is normal and comes from the ATM. Photos of ATM skimmers can be found on this page.

According to Bronxville Chief of Police Christopher Satriale, "several customers conducted transactions while the equipment was in place." As of Wednesday evening those customers have been contacted by HSBS Security Division.

As a precaution against skimming, Satriale also offers these suggestions and tips:

• First, when using an ATM, before you put your card in the slot, put your hand on the slot and wiggle it. ATMs without skimmers will not wiggle at all. If there is a skimmer, the slot will seem loose. (The skimmer might even pop off into your hands.) If it does seem loose, you should alert the bank so they can check into it further.

• Second, to prevent "shoulder-surfers" who might be trying to steal your PIN, always place your free hand over the hand that's punching in the numbers. This will also prevent any camera that was installed from recording your PIN #.

No suspects involved in this incident have been identified at this time. Bronxville detectives are working closely with the HSBC Security Division to obtain futher featials and identify those responsible.