A group of high-tech thieves who police believe stole bank card information from consumers at gas stations in South San Jose and Los Altos are likely the same group that has been targeting Arco stations statewide, the Mercury News has learned.
Los Altos detective Wes Beveridge, who has been involved with the case since thieves made off with about $100,000 from more than 80 customers at a Los Altos Arco station in March, said the group has also hit Arco stations in southern and central California.
"I've been in contact with five different agencies, including the FBI, to try to track the whereaabouts of these people," said Beveridge, who spoke with San Jose detectives about the case. "In each of these cases, the photos we have match the photos they have as well."
In each case, the victims used debit cards to buy gas at Arco stations, which only accepts debit cards. Thieves attached a card-reading device to the payment machine's keypad that allows them to steal bank card numbers and personal identification codes.
San Jose police first received reports of the thefts Monday night, when a San Jose couple realized three separate $500 withdrawals had been made during Memorial Day weekend. Police traced the thefts to the Arco gas station at 5755 Camden Avenue.
San Jose police say the number of victims is now approaching 80 and estimate the thieves have withdrawn $45,000 from Bay Area banks so far. San Jose police expect those numbers to grow-the skimming machines were in place for about one month - and investigators are still in the process of confirming dollar amounts.
"ATMs are a cash-only business," San Jose police detective Patrick Ward said. "They can get straight up cash, as opposed to buying" merchandise with a stolen credit card.
The practice of card "skimming" works like this: Thieves glue a card-reading device on the front of the Arco payment machine. The carefully positioned device can be difficult to detect.
"I defy anybody to tell me they would have noticed it," Beveridge said.
Every time a customer swipes a card, the skimming device transmits the information instantly to a computer nearby, or at other times, thieves come back and retrieve the tiny device.
Thieves then used cloned bank cards - any card with a magnetic strip, including already used gift cards will work - and go on a withdrawal spree.
In Los Altos, thieves made most of their withdrawals on a weekend, and spent a couple of weekdays in the area before moving on. In some cases, Beveridge said bank photos show thieves making five different transactions in a span of five minutes.
"They go where they know people aren't going to be around when they do remove funds," Beveridge said.
Beveridge has contacted the FBI in hopes of creating a task force aimed at catching the high-tech thieves.
"The more they do, the more likely they will screw up," Beveridge said. "The more crimes they commit, the more information we have and then the more likely we are to catch them and get a conviction."
In a separate case, more than 200 shoppers had their debit card information stolen after swiping their cards at a Lunardi's Supermarket in Los Gatos.
"You have very ingenious people who are doing these things because the rate of return is so high," Adam Levin, chairman of Identity Theft 911, an Arizona company that works with banks and institutions to resolve cases of identity theft, told the Mercury News earlier this month. "It happens all over the U.S., and it happens almost every day unfortunately."
By Mark Gomez
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