CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — State police are asking for help identifying a man accused of using cloned debit cards to withdraw money from other people’s bank accounts.
The alleged thief was caught on surveillance video using multiple cloned cards at the Dollar Bank ATM in Cranberry Township in December.
"You could see the guy is at this ATM machine several times, making several withdraws over two different days,” said Tpr. Steve Limani, of the Pennsylvania State Police.
One of the alleged victims lives in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County. Police said there are other victims as well.
Police said the thief or thieves doesn’t need your actual debit card. Instead, police said that they take your identity and load it onto another card, using that card to make purchases, or take out money from an ATM.
"Whether it's through a card reader, or some online transaction, they're able to obtain someone's information from a card,” Limani said.
Police said that crimes like this are becoming more common and more high-tech. They said that in some cases, criminals use counterfeit cards to buy gift cards and sell those for cash at consignment stores.
"It's a way to disassociate yourself from original transaction. It's more difficult to try and track the gift card that was loaded with money," Limani said.
Chip readers and other security devices are making it more difficult for thieves to commit these types of crimes.
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