Police:Debit cards unsafe

The recent looting of bank accounts held by hundreds of customers in Huntington Beach and other Orange County communities has prompted police to issue this warning: Your debit card is not as secure at banks would have you believe.

In October, thieves siphoned money from bank accounts of more than 600 people, among them 70 in Huntington Beach. The only common link in those thefts was that the victims had bought groceries using a debit card at Ralphs supermarket on Goldenwest Street, police said. According to Veriphone, manufacturer of the check-stand terminals used at Ralphs, what occurred was impossible, Huntington Beach Det. Jeff Nelson said.

“Ralphs is saying it just can’t be done,” Nelson said. “We don’t know how the information was stolen.”

Yet somehow more than $90,000 was pilfered from bank accounts of customers who recently shopped at the Huntington Beach Ralphs.

“It’s become a real whodunit,” Nelson said.

Between the cities of Costa Mesa and Westminster, nearly 550 accounts and personal identification numbers were captured at outside gas pump card readers. The numbers taken in those cities were used to drain almost $100,000 dollars from bank accounts.

The mystery for police lies in how thieves were able to obtain the four-digit personal identification numbers, which requires more than just a card-skimming device to breach, police said.

“What we generally see are credit cards being compromised,” Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Brian Seitz said. “ATM is more rare.”

Skimming a card’s magnetic information is easy enough, which is why credit card scams can be more common than debit card scams, police said.

“A separate device is needed to capture the PIN,” Huntington Beach Det. Aaron Smith said.

One device resembling a clear sanitary cover on the key pads records numbers as they are entered, Smith said.

Even more troubling, a simple Google search puts everything needed to pull off a scam like this only a mouse click away. Some websites sell entire Do-It-Yourself credit theft kits, promising customers will never pay for gas again, police said.

How do consumers keep thieves out of their bank account?

Don’t use debit cards, police said. The signature required for credit card purchases at least leaves some physical evidence of who used the card, while swiping ATM cards leaves no trace of the user since no signature or photo identification is required, police said.

Costa Mesa resident Brenda Chandler luckily was notified by her bank less than 24 hours after the first illegal withdrawal was made from her account. On Oct. 27, withdrawals of $500 from her account were made at ATMs in two Las Vegas casinos, Chandler said.

Her bank called after a third $500 withdrawal was made at a 7-Eleven along Boulder Highway. Chandler was immediately reimbursed by her bank.

Unlike account holders who are limited in the amount of cash they can withdraw per day, the phony cards have no cutoff limit. Daily cash withdrawal limits are stored on the magnetic strip of every legitimate debit card. But because the counterfeit cards contain account information without the withdrawal restrictions, multiple maximum withdrawals are possible, police said.

Police recommend that customers continually monitor their accounts and notify banks if fraudulent transactions are discovered.