News

Seattle region sees uptick in skimming

September 19, 2011

According to a Seattle Times report, ATM skimming is on the increase in the Pacific Northwest. How bad has it gotten? Ask U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan, the chief law-enforcement officer in Western Washingon. The Times story says Durkan herself had a "substantial amount" of money stolen from her own personal bank account via skimming.

The report says that in the past week six people in the Seattle region have been arrested for skimming nearly $1 million. Three other major prosecutions are ongoing as well.

Although she admits skimming accounts for an estimated $1 billion-a-year in losses,  Durkan also said that recent arrests by the Secret Service in Seattle likely dismantled the largest operating skimming ring on the West Coast.

"We believe that with this most recent arrest, we have located and dismantled the nerve center of one of the most prolific rings, which used illegal immigrants from Romania to commit the frauds," said Durkan in the article.

One case being investigated involved nine skimming devices placed on Seattle-area ATMs owned by BECU during a 30-day period in September and October of last year. The skimmers were able to compromise the accounts of 281 customers, the report stated. Since then, BECU has installed anti-skimming devices on most of its 180 ATMs.