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Police in Utah County looking for suspects caught on camera in credit card skimmer case

Posted at 9:50 PM, Jan 10, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-10 23:50:28-05

UTAH COUNTY - Police departments from all over Utah County are on the lookout for a group of credit card skimmers after two of them were allegedly caught on camera at a gas station last December.

“Anybody who used their cards at that time had their cards skimmed,” said Lt. Craig Martinez with Orem Police.

A man and a woman were seen on surveillance cameras at a Chevron gas station off State Street in Orem. Patrons at a Central Bank off Main Street in Spanish Fork reported they were victims too.

“I’m usually in a hurry when I got to the ATM,” said Neisha Coutlee, who was victim at Central Bank on December 22nd.

She said she didn’t notice anything off on the machine.

“I don’t pay close attention," she said.

She will now. She said after driving away to run other errands:" “All of a sudden, I get a text alert from my bank."

The bank wanted to know about a series of quick transactions.

“It was $83, another for $83, then $123," she said. "There were a total of five for about $1,300.”

Lt. Martinez said often times skimmer covers are placed on the outside of credit swiping devices. He says a simple shake of that area will reveal if the device has a skimmer attached. Other times, the device can be inside.

An application available on Android devices called “skimmer scanner” will search for scanner devices if you hold it up next to the pump. That’s because many of the skimming devices use Bluetooth to communicate with the thief who installed it. The application searches for a Bluetooth signal.

If you don’t have an Android device, you can just pull up the settings feature on your phone and activate Bluetooth to see if any weird device pops up on your screen.

The thieves drove away with thousands in a van without plates. Lt. Martinez says that’s a common move.

“Chances are, they’re gone,” Lt. Martinez added. “They don’t wait around for very long because as soon as people realize their cards are being used, then law enforcement is going to be looking at surveillance.”