News

Counterfeit cards used in theft of $62k from Texas bank ATMs

January 30, 2019

Detectives with the forgery squad of the police department in Lubbock, Texas, are investigating a case of counterfeit card fraud that netted nearly $62,000 in stolen cash from ATMs in Lubbock and other cities.

The incident occurred between Jan. 10 and 14, and involved ATMs operated by Vista Bank and FirstCapital Bank, according to a report by Everything Lubbock. The case involved hundreds of stolen credit and debit card numbers, police said.

FirstCapital posted a statement on its website explaining that the bank's ATMs had been shut down as a result of the counterfeit card fraud:

FirstCapital Bank of Texas and other financial institutions are working with law enforcement to catch a fraud ring who are using spoofed cards to withdraw cash from ATMs. No FirstCapital Bank of Texas customer accounts have been compromised or affected [sic]; however, we have made the decision to turn off the ATM functionality to our TellerConnect kiosks and ATMs until further notice.

Customers can still withdraw funds from ATMs in the Allpoint Network, to which the bank belongs, the statement said.

The report did not indicate whether the banks' ATMs were enabled for EMV transactions, which makes counterfeit card fraud difficult or impossible to carry out.