Fake deposit leads to stolen money

PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill. (WLS) -- An unexpected deposit may seem like a gift - but beware. It's most likely a fake deposit from a criminal about to drain your account.

One local woman lost thousands of dollars until the I-Team got involved.

It only takes a skimmer on an ATM to obtain your debit card number, make a dummy card, and a small, wireless camera nearby can capture your personal identification number (PIN) on video.

Governors State University's "Professor Fraud," Bill Kresse, says that's one way someone could have gotten Lanita Gueno's information.

"It made me feel violated, angry, upset," Gueno said.

The medical credential analyst in the Loop says someone deposited a bogus check for almost $3,500 into Gueno's BMO Harris account from an ATM. A day later, before the fake check bounced, there were several purchases and withdrawals for hundreds of dollars. Her account went to negative $2,977.

"I wasn't on the camera making the deposit or the withdrawals," Gueno said. She said that no one she knew deposited the check.

Gueno officially disputed the transactions but says the Palos Heights branch managers were blaming her - even freezing her checking and another savings account. After calling the I-Team, BMO Harris sent her a check for the money lost.

"Because of the I-Team, Harris bank was not on my side and for me to be a customer of them for five years and for them to have no evidence that I did this, you would have thought they would be on my side," Gueno said.

Citing customer privacy, BMO Harris declined to go on-camera but in a statement said, "... we have reimbursed this customer for the amount lost."

"The banks will be skeptical, they want to see if your story checks out, they will check the retailers or banks or ATMs to see if they can get a video of ATMs," Kresse said.

Kresse warns not to ever share your PIN, or you could be held liable for the loss. But, he says, it's more common than you'd think for strangers to obtain the information.

Besides using skimmers and those mini cams to get PINs, they can also use a fake ATM keypad.

"Right, it lies right over the keypad, the bad guys will glue it down into place and you will be pressing the buttons, and you are giving the bad guys your pin," Kresse said. "You are left holding the bag."

Many of these devices are hard for most people to spot, but you can check ATM and gas station pump card readers for extra objects attached. Sometimes they are different colors than the reader.

You can also check your transaction history online daily, set up text alerts and inform your bank immediately about suspicious activity.