EAST ELMHURST — This scammer's skimmer was blocked by an eagle-eyed shopper — but police are still investigating whether he managed to steal anyone's bank information.
A suspect attached a skimming machine to an ATM at a 7-Eleven at 87-16 Astoria Blvd. at around 5 p.m. on March 10, police said.
But 10 minutes later, a woman shopping in the store noticed the device and told an employee — who then called the police, officials said.
Officers removed the skimming device from the machine and are currently investigating whether he managed to swipe anyone's information in the brief time it was up.
The 7-Eleven on Astoria Boulevard has been targeted by ATM skimming fraudsters before.
The store's manager, Mike Patel, said in 2015 that he and his employees diligently checked their ATM machine for any of the machines.
“We check with our hand to make sure there’s no artificial machine on it,” he said at the time.
An investigator from the 115th Precinct has encouraged citizens to "yank" on ATMs before using them in a bid to catch externally-mounted skimming devices.
