SACRAMENTO, Calif.--Two men have been arrested for inserting skimmers onto ATMs and stealing account information affecting more than 800 members of The Golden 1 Credit Union.
Now facing federal conspiracy charges for using the deep insertion skimmer along with a hidden camera to capture each member’s PIN are Luis Gaina and Ricardo Gabriele-Plage, both from Venezuela. Police said clear pictures of the men were captured by security cameras at the ATMs.
According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, the Department of Homeland Security said, “Through this investigation, law enforcement has learned that a group of individuals have used a device known as a deep insertion skimmer to steal the debit and credit card numbers of bank and credit union customers who used the targeted ATMs.”
"It takes a lot of skill to actually develop one of those devices; a certain level of skill that you don't normally see in the common criminal," said Sgt. Shaun Hampton with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, in a statement. "People who are manufacturing these have a significant amount of knowledge in what is needed and there is a slight bit of engineering that goes into making these devices."
According to police, the two men used the stolen information to withdraw $21,000 from member accounts and compromised multiple ATMs. All of the funds have been returned to Golden 1 members. In all, 860 member accounts were compromised. The credit union said their cards have been replaced.