Pelham Police Blotter: Ticket Machine Skimming and Bank Fraud

Car Break-in on Fifth Avenue, March 7

Pelham police are investigating a car break-in that took place at 629 Fifth Ave.

A man filed a report with police at about 9:30 p.m. after he discovered that the front passenger side window of his Ford Windstar had been smashed and that his Apple laptop and a sports coat had been taken.

Police said they could find no sign of the object used to break the window at the scene of the crime. Police interviewed some youths who were walking in the area, but they didn’t see anything. The break-in remains under investigation.

False Alarm, March 7

Police received a report of suspicious activity near Franklin Place. Two male youths, one wearing a cowboy hat and the other possibly carrying a yellow shotgun, were seen walking in the area. When police arrived at the scene, they determined the youths were dressed as character for a school function.

Card Skimmer Used at Train Station, March 1—March 3

Pelham Police are working with Metropolitan Transportation Authority police after it was determined that an ATM pin number skimmer had been placed on a ticket machine at the Pelham train station.

Pelham police began receiving reports in early March from five people claiming that money had been taken from their checking accounts. Amounts ranging from $500 to more than $2,000 had been taken from the accounts.

The victims discovered the missing funds after having their transactions declined or being alerted by their financial institutions of large transactions taking place . Police said they determined that a skimmer must have been used after they verified that all of the victims had used the ticket machine at the train station in late-February.

Skimming, which usually done at ATMs, is when a device is planted devices planted on a card reader to steal the card’s information. The information is usually stored on a small attached laptop or cell phone or sent wirelessly to the criminals waiting nearby.

A hidden camera is also usually placed near the ATM to record customers’ entry of their PINs into the ATM’s keypad.

Pelham police Detective Rick Deere said the skimmer was gone when police went back to the ticket machine. Deere said he hasn’t heard of any skimming incidents taking place at any of the neighboring train stations.

Deere said this is the first skimming case to that he has seen in Pelham.

“They used a system in which a camera was installed and if you don’t know what you’re looking for, it’s virtually impossible to see,” Deere said.

Deere advises residents to choose credit card when they’re keying information on their debit cards. This will keep cameras from recording their pin numbers. At the very least, people should try to cover the key pad when their punching in their pins.

More information on skimming can be found here.

Disorderly Taxi Customer, March 2

Pelham police were called to the scene of Lincoln and Sixth avenues a little after 8 p.m. on March 2 after taxi driver complained about an unruly customer.

The customer, a Bronx man, appeared to be glassy-eyed and had the smell alcohol on his breath, according to police. The man tried to call a cab to the Bronx, but told police that he had lost the $1,000 he had on him.

The man allegedly tried to flee when police alerted him that they were taking him to Mount Vernon Hospital for observation. Police eventually caught up to the man after his pants fell down and he tripped.

The man suffered minor injuries to his mouth, but didn’t suffer any other injuries from the fall, according to police. He was taken into custody and transported to Mount Vernon Hospital.

Bank Fraud, March 1.

A Trustco Bank employee was arraigned in Pelham court Thursday after she allegedly aided an accomplice in cashing $9,500 worth of fake checks from the   branch in Pelham.
Samantha Jones, of the Bronx, was arraigned and charged with forgery. Police said Jones, who works at the Trustco Bank in Hartsdale, illegally used information she obtained as an employee to help another person use forged check at various bank branches.

Jones faces a similar charge in the Town of Greenburgh, according to police. Jones was released to reappear in court on $1,000 bail. Her accomplice still remains at large.