Federal Prosecutors have charged two men with skimming a BECU ATM in Ballard. According to Seattlepi.com, Ion Armeanca, 44, and Dan Petri, 34, doctored the machine to steal account information and personal identification numbers (PIN) on November 30th. A Secret Service agent speaking at court is documented as saying the skimmer was set up on the 900 block of NW 45th St, Seattlepi.com is reporting. The agent told the court that the skimmer was set up for two hours and 14 accounts were compromised at a cost of $14,000.
The agent described the skimming scheme to the court, Seattlepi.com reports, explaining that a fake faceplate is placed over the card reader of the ATM with a device that can store information on the card’s magnetic strip. The suspects placed cameras above the keypad to capture the customers’ PINs. (Thanks Kurt and Tomas for the tip!)