ATM Fraud Suspect Arrested in Fullerton

Quick thinking by a bank customer who flagged down police after seeing someone loitering near an automated teller machine led to the arrest of a man suspected of being part of an ATM fraud ring, authorities said Tuesday.

Shimon Levi, 29, was arrested without incident Monday night after police discovered him carrying a handgun outside the Bank of America at 1831 W. Orangethorpe Ave., said Fullerton Police Lt. Tony Hernandez.

Officers who searched Levi’s car found more than 200 counterfeit ATM cards, $4,200 in $20 bills and a list of bank account numbers, police said.

Levi “had a large map of Orange County laying out 18 other locations of Bank of Americas,” Hernandez said. “It looked like he was just getting started for the evening and had made all of the withdrawals out of the ATM machine at this bank.”

Police believe Levi is part of a ring targeting Bank of America customers.

Levi, a resident of West Hills, was being held Tuesday at the Federal Detention Center in Los Angeles on suspicion of forgery, fraudulent use of credit cards and possession of a loaded handgun, Hernandez said.

He said the ring uses receipts left behind at ATMs to obtain customers’ account numbers and surveillance to obtain their personal identification number, or PIN. The ring apparently manufactures phony ATM cards and encodes their magnetic strips with filched account numbers, he said.

“The ring will either videotape or use binoculars or telescopes to watch people put their (PIN) numbers into the machines,” Hernandez said.

This is the second time in a month that police in Orange County have arrested people in connection with an ATM card scam. On Feb. 9, Newport Beach police arrested three men and charged them in a scheme that may have netted $100,000 in cash.

In that case, police seized 500 automated teller machine cards, magnetic strips for altering the cards, a telescope, $20,000 in cash and two firearms. The three men are in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles awaiting arraignment Monday.

Both cases were turned over by police to the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates the counterfeiting of credit cards, a federal offense.

Federal investigators would not comment on the case. Police said they did not know if the two Orange County cases are linked or if they are connected to a major ATM ring in the San Fernando Valley.