Two local credit unions have reported skimming incidents at two locations in Erie. One was at 1129 State Street at the Tendto Credit Union ATM and the other was at 518 State Street at the Erie Federal Credit Union ATM.
The Tendto incident is described here:
On March 14, 2019, Tendto Credit Union discovered that a skimming device may have been placed on an ATM located at 1129 State Street Erie, PA 16501 on March 9, 2019 between 3:39 p.m. and 8:08 p.m. Upon discovering the situation, Tendto Credit Union immediately conducted an investigation, confirmed the removal of the skimming device from the ATM, and promptly alerted local law enforcement.
This incident affected only debit card transactions at one location during the times listed above. The skimming device is believed to have acquired the following personal information stored on the affected debit cards: cardholders’ names, card numbers, expiration dates and personal identification numbers (PIN). The skimming device did not acquire Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, addresses, phone numbers or any other financial information. Tendto Credit Union’s core banking systems were not compromised or impacted as a result of this incident.
The Erie FCU incident is described here:
Erie Federal Credit Union (“Erie FCU”) recently discovered that a skimming device had been placed on the credit union’s ATM located at 518 State Street, Erie, PA 16501. Erie FCU believes that this incident affected only those individuals who conducted card transactions at the subject ATM between November 24, 2018 and November 25, 2018 or on December 1, 2018. The device has been removed from the ATM. The skimming device would only have acquired the following personal information as stored on the card used at the subject ATM during the relevant time period: cardholders name, card number, card expiration date and personal identification number (PIN). The skimming device did not acquire the cardholders Social Security number, driver’s license number, address, phone number or any other financial information.
Anyone who believes they may have been affected by these devices should contact their credit union.
Skimming devices which intercept information from the credit or debit card being used have been found nationwide for years and can be installed by hackers on ATM machines, point of sale machines, gas pumps and almost any device where you insert your card to make a transaction. Some are very obvious while others are disguised so well they are extremely difficult to detect and unless you know what you are looking for, you would never notice.
For an excellent overview of skimmers, what they look like, how they work and what you can do to protect yourself, refer to the series of articles on the website Krebs on Security. All About Skimmers
