Santander Bank seems to be having problems with ATM incidents at some of their Massachusetts branches. In each of three reported cases, the criminals attached a magnetic stripe reader on the ATM vestibule door of the branch and removed it within a day or two.
Customers’ names, card numbers, expiration dates, security codes, and PIN numbers were obtained by the criminals, and fraudulent transactions occurred shortly thereafter. In each case, Santander’s fraud detection team detected the problem when fraudulent transactions started.
Each month for the last three months, Santander has reported this type of problem, suggesting that this is the same criminal(s) using what has been a lucrative strategy so far:
At the Salem branch, criminals attached a skimming device on April 14 and removed it on April 15. Fraudulent transactions occurred on April 23, and the bank’s fraud detection unit discovered the problem and addressed it.
At the Woburn branch, the criminals attached a skimming device on May 1 and removed it on May 2. The information was misused for fraudulent purposes on May 3, and the bank detected the problem on May 4.
At the Dorchester branch, the criminals attached and removed the device on June 10, and then attached it again on June 11 and removed it on June 12. The bank detected the breach on June 14 when fraudulent transactions started to occur.
The number of fraudulent transactions or customers affected from these incidents was not reported to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, but Santander noted that they were working with the Secret Service and continuing to monitor ATMs and vestibule doors.
Update: A fourth ATM incident was reported at a Santander branch in Amity, Pennsylvania. That one occurred June 11-12 at a drive-up ATM. (h/t, @VERISDB)