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OREM — Two people were arrested after retrieving a skimming device from an ATM, police said.
The arrests came as part of an ongoing investigation into the recent placement of skimming devices, which record bank card information, on ATMs at local banks, according to the Orem Police Department. Lt. Craig Martinez said a bank in Sandy was first to discover the skimming device after customers reported fraudulent activity.
“They sent a message out to all the rest of their branches about what they had found,” he said. “The branch in Orem, where we released the video surveillance from (Tuesday), had some fraudulent activity on some of their account holders as well. They did not have a skimmer on their machine, but they went back and checked their surveillance, and that’s where they came across the surveillance that we released.”
Detectives from the Orem Police Department contacted the FBI’s Cyber Task Force and conducted joint surveillance on the ATM in Sandy to watch for someone to come retrieve the device, according to Martinez. He said a man and woman picked up the device and left in a car.
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Skimming device found at Orem ATM, police say
A recent skimming incident in Orem has police reminding residents to always be mindful when using an ATM or other bank card readers.Alexandro Stefan, 25, and Ionela Stefan, 20, were arrested near Nephi and booked into the Utah County Jail. Martinez said the Stefans, who were born in Romania but are described as being from California, were released from the Utah County Jail and then booked into another jail with a federal hold.
Police have identified two more people involved with the ATM skimming devices, according to Martinez. He said they are still looking for the man pictured in surveillance photos from the Orem branch, who also appeared in surveillance footage at the Sandy branch.
A fourth person has been drawing money from compromised accounts in the Salt Lake area, according to Martinez. He said he couldn’t release the names of the banks where the skimming devices were located due to the ongoing investigation, but that affected customers have been notified.
Contributing: Cleon Wall and Andrew Adams
