M&T Customers Notice Fradulent Withdrawals Taken from ATM in Wesley Hills

By Sarah Morgenstern

Customers of M&T Bank in Wesley Hills are advised to check their banks accounts, as two customers have reported large withdrawals that they did not make, a Rockland Daily reader reported.

On Sunday, the RD reader noticed that $800 had been taken from his account, although he has not used his ATM card since last Thursday.

After sending out a public service announcement about the fraudulent withdrawal to his bank account on his neighborhood WhatsApp chat, the reader learned that one of his neighbors, who had not recently used her ATM card, saw that $1,600 had been removed from her account. 

“Tell people to check their accounts: even if they didn’t use the M&T ATM in Wesley Hills,” warned the reader. “If money was removed from your account, call the bank, they'll cancel your card and send you a new one, as well as credit back the money,” which he confirmed was true for the money taken from his account.

After filing a police report, the M&T customer learned that also on Sunday, police officers had removed from the M&T ATM, a “skimmer device,” which is a card reader installed by thieves.

“When you slide your card into an ATM that has a skimmer device attached, you are unwittingly sliding it through a counterfeit reader that scans and stores all your information from the magnetic strip and your PIN from the machine’s keypad,” according to the website of the Northwest Community Credit Union (NCCU), which said that theft at ATM machines that involve skimmer devices has increased. 

ATM users can try to spot machines onto which scammers have installed skimming devices by being on the lookout for tape and/or sticky glue residue on any part of the ATM, NCCU suggests. 

Any seemingly extra parts or slots that are hanging from ATMs are also suspicious. Users should gently wiggle card slots and keypads to determine whether any loose-fitting devices have been fraudulently attached.

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