Police seek to identify suspect who installed ATM skimming device

WAUKESHA (WITI) -- The Waukesha Police Department is looking for the public's help to identify a suspect who placed a "skimming" device on an ATM at a US Bank branch location.

US Bank and Diebold employees alerted police to the skimming device at the Silvernail Rd. branch. The skimmer insert had been placed over the card reader.

"It was transmitting information over Bluetooth to what I believe was a laptop at a different location," said Sgt. Jerry Habanek of the Waukesha Police Department.

Also located at the ATM was a blue bar that sat on top of the machine that contained a pinhole camera. The camera apparently recorded pin numbers that were punched into the key pad.

Police say information was stolen only during certain times -- from 6:35 p.m. to 8:14 p.m. on Friday, February 8th and from 2:50 p.m. to 4:53 p.m. on Saturday, February 9th. How do officials know this? They have pictures of the thief.

"Someone out there saw a person wearing blue jeans, a black puffy coat, he had a scarf over his face, he was average height, white male, standing at the ATM machine," said Habanek.

What's more, police know from the surveillance video that someone tried to use the ATM while the suspect was there.

"If that person, the person that interrupted him, has any information like where he walked, back to a car or if he can describe him anymore, we'd appreciate it if they called the Waukesha Police Department," said Habanek.

A technician from Diebold told police he could tell the ATM had been compromised because the card reader did not light up when a card was inserted. He also noted the blue bar containing the pinhole camera was colored a slightly lighter blue than the screen.

Anyone who has information regarding the person in the photo is urged to call the Waukesha Police Department at 262-524-3924.

For the record, there are precautions you can take to prevent becoming a victim of crimes like this. Start by covering your hand while entering your pin number. Look for the typical flashing lights and reporting any card read errors you may encounter.



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