MILWAUKEE —More than $100,000 was stolen from the accounts of Marine Credit Union as the result of a card-skimming operations.
According to a report by WISN, the credit union is among many in the Midwest that have been targeted by a sophisticated ring of scammers who use the skimmers to create fake debit cards to withdraw funds.
The theft reportedly took place in late October and involved data stolen from 183 members/consumers, 120 of whom had funds removed from their accounts.
"We're trying to stay one step ahead of them. It's hard," Bill James, Marine Credit Union’s Chief Risk Officer told WISN. "They're inserted right into the machine, you can't even see it. There's some ways to detect it. Sometimes there's a little residue, sometimes there's a loose piece of a camera or something like that, but it's hard. It's hard to find it."
James told WISN the thieves inserted a skimmer into an ATM at a Marine Credit Union at 35th Street and St. Paul Avenue in Milwaukee, and then recorded the electronic data from the black strip on the customers' debit cards. The stolen data was then used to debit the card, usually by copying it onto a blank gift card.
A hidden camera recorded the cardholders’ hands as they key in their PIN.
A Reminder to Members
The credit union, which reassured members their money is safe and reimbursed those who experienced losses,
Reminded members to regularly check their transactions and balances to ensure they haven’t had unauthorized activity.
No arrests have been made.
Your Best Holiday Shopping Offer is Here!
The biggest, best and freshest news reporting in credit unions remains free! Each morning CUToday.info delivers its daily Fresh Today news update offering the latest headlines and breaking news right to your email, with the easy-to-read headlines format allowing you to click on the stories that interest you most in order to learn more. So stop paying those bank-fee-like subscription prices from other so-called “news” publications!
If you haven’t yet signed up for the new email solution on which CUToday.info has partnered with ResponseGenius, you can do so here. Signing up requires less than one minute of your time—and it’s free!
Please note that after signing up you may need to go to your Spam/Junk folder and mark the morning headlines email as safe. CUToday.info does not provide its list of readers and emails to outside parties, and we will not be contacting you to sell you an extended warranty or sending you any links so you may cash in on an inheritance you didn’t know was coming.
And did we mention it’s free?