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Thieves bag $100,000 after stealing ATM pin numbers

Greg Sandoval Former Staff writer
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. Based in New York, Sandoval is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at @sandoCNET.
Greg Sandoval

Some tech savvy thieves in New York City stole more than $100,000 after duping about 50 Washington Mutual customers out of their ATM pin numbers.

The crooks attached phony keypads and bankcard slots onto two Washington Mutual branches in New York City, according to a report from CNNMoney.com.

The information was then transferred onto fraudulent cards and used to withdraw money from the victims' accounts, the Web site reported. The bank will compensate the victims.

Police are warning ATM users to beware of strange wires rigged onto ATM machines, or of video cameras trained on the keypad. Customers should be skeptical of any keypads that are missing Braille markings.

Police say that this kind of heist is unusual because of the sophistication required to pull it off.

Photos of the culprits were recorded by the bank's security cameras. Federal and New York authorities are asking the public for help tracking them down.