Let me reiterate: Card skimmers are not cute hacks or experiments. They're illegal devices used to steal money from innocent people, and anyone who makes, uses, buys or encourages the use of them belongs in jail. Tellingly, the first related video on YouTube is called "Pin Pad Thief Sentencing." I realize that by writing about these dorks I'm giving them publicity, but I'm hoping that publicity only results in something very, very bad happening to them. [YouTube]

Recently, four Romanians living in Florida have been charged for stealing $1.8 million from banks all around New York, including New York City, Cicero and Rochester. Most of the millions had been wired to Eastern Europe already when then culprits were arrested, yet if convicted, they can face up to 15 years each in federal prison. What's more unnerving is that although these four had been caught, there are still more card-skimming fiends in New York that have yet to be identified.

Using magnetic card-skimmers and pin-hole cameras attached to Sovereign Bank ATMs, a band of identity thieves managed to create enough fake-ATM cards to steal more than half a million dollars from over 250 victims all over Staten Island.

"This crew is sophiscated," Deputy Inspector Gregory Antonsen said, "And they're coming up with new ways to steal your identity every day."

Bottom line: Watch your back and see what to look for to further protect your money and your safety. [Syracuse via Consumerist via Fox News via Daily News via Switched]

Sean Seibel was inside a local Chase bank where he inserted his ATM card into one of two side-by-side automatic teller machines. When the machine told him it could not read his card, it took him a bit of jiggling to get his card back. He tried it a couple more times and got the same results. Before trying the other machine, he inspected the slot of the current ATM he was using and realized that it had a false plastic cover attached to the slot. The amazing thing about the cover was that the translucent green plastic matched the card reader slot perfectly, meaning that it was made specifically for Chase ATMs. After snapping a few photos with his iPhone, he alerted the branch manager and explained what happened.

As he was leaving, Seibel remembered reading about card skimmers having small cameras in the proximity in order to read PIN pad activity, so naturally, he went back to the ATM to inspect, which is where he found an extra mirror attached to the vandalized machine that the other ATMs didn't have. Drilled into the mirror was a tiny pinhole with a camera inside, directed at the PIN pad. Seibel alerted the branch manager again and asked Chase why they hadn't inspected the ATM after he had warned them the first time. Chase honestly replied that they hadn't thought of it because they had never encountered that sort of thing before.

From the crazy amounts of feedback we received last night after we posted the first story, it seems that card skimmers are a common crime everywhere from Thailand to Mexico. But actually hearing about it happening to our very own readers here in America makes us want to help get the word out. Seibel says it best: "Take this as a warning and please inspect every ATM machine you use, no matter how secure you think the environment is." [Thanks Sean!]

Consumerist reader, Dan, was at a local WaMu ATM getting cash when he realized something didn't feel quite right. After examining the money machine, he realized there was a card skimmer in the slot. Immediately, he ripped it off—which was probably quite easy seeing that it looks to be held together by masking tape—and took pictures of it before contacting Washing Mutual and the authorities. Surprisingly, the police admitted that this was the first time they had ever seen a card skimmer before. One mystery down, and so many more to go. What's next? I'm banking on exotic, hungry, and extremely poisonous spiders hiding in your toilet. [Consumerist via BBG]