Three men have been arrested in connection with ATM skimming in multiple towns in Connecticut.
Detectives from the Connecticut State Police Statewide Organized Crime Investigative Task Force received information from Liberty Bank on Wednesday about an ATM skimming crew that was identified after multiple people reported fraudulent charges on their debit cards, according to state police.
Liberty Bank reportedly determined two people in particular had multiple uses on their debit accounts coming from the same location in Newington with several attempted and completed ATM transactions. Additional similar incidents were found to have happened in Berlin and West Hartford.
While investigating, state police identified a vehicle from surveillance video at multiple financial institutions and businesses with third-party ATMs. The vehicle was described as a BMW X5 SUV with a California license plate. The vehicle was reportedly determined to be a rental from Los Angeles International Airport that was nine days overdue from its return date.
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The manufacturer of the vehicle provided GPS location to investigators and surveillance was conducted. On Friday, state police said it was found at the valet entrance of a luxury apartment building in Hartford then it was stationary at various ATMs. A skimming device was found and seized at one of these ATMs, authorities said.
Later in the evening, the vehicle was seen pulling into a bank on the Silas Deane Highway in Wethersfield. Detectives converged upon the vehicle and arrested two people. The driver of the vehicle fled on foot, but was found a short time later and arrested.
According to state police, the three people arrested were a 22-year-old man from France, a 26-year-old man from France and a 23-year-old man from Romania.
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After searching the rental car, state police said they found a keypad overlay device that captures PIN code inputs, tools known to be used by skimmers, spare SD cards, payment cards and gift cards with magnetic strips, cards belonging to people other than the occupants and an object believed to be a deep-insert skimming device. Additional generic bank cards with magnetic strips containing financial information were also found, state police said.
All three men are facing a list of charges including identity theft, computer crime, larceny and fraudulent use of an ATM. They were each held on a $500,000 bond and are due in court on Monday.
