05:39 PM MDT on Monday, July 18, 2005

Ysabel Bilbao
Idaho's NewsChannel 7

BOISE -- Boise police say two devices used to steal bank account information were found stuck to an ATM machine in Boise over the weekend.

Boise Police

Boise Police says these two devices used to steal bank card information was found at a Washington Mutual Bank last weekend. No suspects have been arrested.

Detectives now have those devices and they're looking for the suspects who put them there.

"It was actually just stuck to the ATM machine with double sided tape, so it wasn't high tech as you can see," said detective Wade Spain, Boise Police.

On Saturday, officers were called to the Washington Mutual Bank across the street from the Boise Towne Square Mall. When they arrived, the skimming device was gone.

On Sunday, at around the same time, they were called back to the same ATM.

This time a female customer had taken the device off the machine.

Police say it will be given to the Secret Service and sent for analysis to their Washington D.C. lab.

Det. Spain says there were two pieces were attached to the different parts of the automatic teller machine. One piece was found where an ATM card is inserted. The other was placed over the key pad.

He says the skimming equipment records debit card information, which allows the thief to transfer that information onto another card, and then use it to withdraw money from the bank customer’s accounts.

"This skimmer could have been at other banks, potentially absolutely, and that's why we are taking a look and you should take a close look to see if anything is different," Spain said.

Spain says ATM users have to be aware of their machine. He says skimming devices are typically found attached to the ATM itself.

He says the best thing to do is check your machine so you know what it looks like. And if there is a piece of equipment that doesn't look right, don't use the machine, instead call police.

In May 2004, Boise police believe a skimming device was attached to two US Bank ATM's in the area, and the thieves got away with over $100,000.