SAN DIEGO — A Hillcrest man has a warning about card skimmers after he believes he found one while using an ATM. CBS 8 is Working For You to help protect yourself from becoming a victim of skimming.
Stephen Schnare told CBS 8 that he was using an ATM inside CVS on Washington and 3rd in Hillcrest. That's when he noticed that his card was getting jammed in the machine.
"Upon removing my card, that reader or swiper came out of the ATM. I was like this is weird. It was a card-shaped device that wasn't visible. It was all the way in the machine originally," he said.
He said he reported it to the employees. Next, he posted to Nextdoor to warn his neighbors. He was surprised by the comments he saw.
"I read a couple of people that had used this actual ATM here then found out their card was locked or blocked or anonymous use was found on their records," he said.
Just a couple weeks ago the El Cajon Police Department warned of a rise in card skimmers with more than 20 found in the past six months.
"Those skimmers are being placed on ATM machines, at banks, at your local retailer," said Amanda Stills at El Cajon Police.
Tips
The FBI says ATM skimmers usually go over the card reader but can also be installed inside machines, making them difficult to detect.
Pinhole cameras can be installed to record your pin or keypad overlays are put on top of the keypad.
The agency recommends wiggling the card reader and pulling the edges of the keypad.
Schnare says he'll do what he can to be more cautious
"I will probably use a different ATM going forward but those readers could have been put in any ATM brand name banking or 24-hour ATM machines," he said.
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