Friday, July 24, 2009

NYC Woman Accused of ATM Fraud at Pa. Slots Parlor

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20090723_ap_nycwomanaccusedofatmfraudatpaslotsparlor.html

The Associated Press

EASTON, Pa. - Authorities in eastern Pennsylvania say an illegal immigrant from China bilked casino patrons out of as much as $10,000 last month.

Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli says 56-year-old Shoumin Chai scammed casino patrons who used an ATM at the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem last month. Surveillance footage allegedly shows Chai offering to assist two dozen people with their withdrawals and double-swiping their cards to access their accounts.

Morganelli says three people have already come forward claiming $1,100 in loses.

Chai, a New York City resident, faces more than a hundred charges. Her bail was increased to $200,000 on Wednesday.

Morganelli says Chai has a history of fraud convictions and was banned from Atlantic City casinos in May. Immigration officials say they have begun deportation proceedings.

Posted by NAAIO at 14:11:46 | Permalink | No Comments »

Customers File 9 Federal Lawsuits Seeking ATM Fee Payback

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_627580.html

By Jason Cato | TRIBUNE-REVIEW | Monday, June 1, 2009

ATM transactions might cost a number of financial institutions and operators in Western Pennsylvania more than a nominal fee if they lose a rash of lawsuits filed in federal court in Pittsburgh.

Customers filed nine lawsuits during a two-week period claiming they used automated-teller machines that violated the Electronic Funds Transfer Act because “no notice was posted ‘on or at’ the ATM,” as federal law requires. The law requires notifying customers of fees by signs located on or near the machines and on-screen before transactions are completed.

Each lawsuit alleges there was no sign, although customers were notified on the screen of fees ranging from $1 to $2.

“Go to 20 ATMs, and I think you’ll see that people tear the stickers off everyone’s machines,” said Tom Ronalo, president of ATM Cash World in Green Tree.

Ronalo’s company is being sued by a Wexford man who claims a machine in a Coraopolis convenience store violates the law. Dale Holland said he was illegally assessed a $2 fee. Other defendants include Clearview Credit Union, Northwest Savings Bank and Allegheny Valley Bank of Pittsburgh.

“We’ve got a thousand machines,” Ronalo said. “People tamper with them. I don’t see how anybody can be damaged by that.”

Congress saw differently when it made several amendments to the law in the 1990s, though lawmakers placed a $500,000 limit on the amount a company can lose through a class-action lawsuit.

“The overwhelming majority of financial institutions and ATM operators are in compliance with the law,” said Bruce Carlson, a Sewickley lawyer whose firm filed the nine lawsuits and seeks class-action status for them. “But the law speaks for itself. The requirements are unambiguous.”

Carlson said legislators encouraged lawsuits as an enforcement tactic because the government lacks the resources to make sure each machine complies with the law.

“These lawsuits and publicity will make sure everyone soon is in compliance,” Carlson said.

Class-action lawsuits often recoup minimal losses for many people, said Jonathan Klick, a University of Pennsylvania law professor.

“Individually, you would never bring your own case if it cost $5,000 to win $1,000,” Klick said. “If we didn’t have these cases litigated, these companies would have nothing to worry about and no reason to change.”

A Chicago bank this year settled a similar lawsuit for $75,000 after it was sued for charging customers $3 per transaction instead of the $2 it told them they would be charged. Of the settlement money, the person who sued received $3,000 and his lawyers took $31,000. The remaining $41,000 will be split among the class-action members, with each getting up to $75.

Posted by NAAIO at 14:07:59 | Permalink | No Comments »

Wachovia Offering Reward in Stolen ATM Incident

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/072309/new_468131411.shtml

Well-equipped thieves take ATM

With stolen forklift, bank robbers pull off a hoist

By Joe Johnson  |  joe.johnson@onlineathens.com

Wachovia has posted a reward after thieves stole an ATM this week from the drive-thru of the bank’s Mitchell Bridge Road branch.

The thieves boosted a forklift from an Atlanta Highway construction site early Monday morning, drove it to the bank about a mile and a half away, then used it to rip the ATM from the ground and load it into a pickup, Athens-Clarke police said.

As officers responded to a silent bank alarm at 4:24 a.m. a witness called 911 to report she saw the driverless forklift rolling across the parking lot of Athens Promenade shopping center on Atlanta Highway, which is adjacent to the bank.

Officers barely missed the thieves, arriving soon after the forklift crashed into a tree at the shopping center, according to police.

The forklift was stolen from Adcock Furniture Co., 4220 Atlanta Highway, but police don’t know if the thieves drove it to the bank at 1200 Mitchell Bridge Road or loaded it into another vehicle.

Thieves began using forklifts and other construction equipment to steal ATMs in metro Atlanta about five years ago, but the technique is just reaching Clarke County, police said.

The trend began in the summer of 2004, officials said, when police arrested a heavy equipment operator at his home in Conyers in connection with seven ATM thefts over a five-week period.

More recently and closer to home, ATM thieves struck in Banks County two months ago.

Athens-Clarke police Detective Sean McCauley plans to compare notes with authorities there who are investigating an attempted ATM theft on May 2 from Northeast Georgia Bank on U.S. Highway 441 in Commerce.

The thieves stole a forklift from a construction site on the other side of the road, drove it to the bank and plunged the forks into the ATM, tearing it from the ground and placing it in a pickup truck’s bed, Banks County Sheriff Charles Chapman said.

When bank’s alarm went off, the startled thieves rushed to get away. They didn’t secure the ATM and the machine fell into the bank’s parking lot.

They abandoned the pickup - which was stolen in Gwinnett County - in Jefferson, not far from Interstate 85.

A Banks County investigator met with officers from the Peachtree City area, where thieves used the same method to steal 11 ATMs.

“They all happened between 3 and 5 in the morning, and they all used stolen construction equipment to put the ATM machines into stolen vehicles,” Chapman said.

“It’s probably going to be the same perpetrators,” he said. “It may or may not be a large group of them, but they’re going to be one and the same.”

The thieves in Monday’s heist probably used a stolen truck, and the vehicle will turn up abandoned over the next few days, Chapman predicted.

Wachovia is offering up to $20,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the thieves.

Anyone with information can call McCauley at (706) 353-4218, extension 141, or use the Crime Stoppers confidential tip line, at (706) 613-3342.

Editor’s note: Due to incorrect information provided to the Banner-Herald, the amount of award money offered by Wachovia Bank was incorrect in a previous version of this story.

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Thursday, July 23, 2009
Posted by NAAIO at 14:03:36 | Permalink | No Comments »