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Ridge crook using phony debit card to steal cash

Cops: Ridge crook using phony debit card to steal cash
NYPD

It was a high-tech cash swipe.

Law enforcement officials are looking for a man who used a “cloned” debit card to steal cash from another man’s bank account on Dec. 15.

The tech-savvy thief made a phony copy of a man’s debit card and withdrew $503 from a cash machine at the Chase Bank on the corner of 86th Street and Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge at 11:52 pm, a police report states.

Cops busted a two Brooklyn men in October for making fake debit cards — a sophisticated operation involving specialized printers, embossing machines, and magnetizers, police said.

Fraudsters install card readers on cash machines that copy users’ debit card information, police said. Then the crooks use tiny cameras or old-fashioned over-the-shoulder peeping to catch victims’ personal identification numbers. Swindlers encode the stolen debit card information on blank cards in a process called cloning — then they start withdrawing or spending other people’s cash, police said.

Officials are asking anyone with information about the incident to call Crime stoppers at (800) 577–8477. The public can also submit tips anonymously by logging onto www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or by texting tips to 274637 then entering “TIP577.” All calls are strictly confidential, police said.

Reach reporter Max Jaeger at mjaeg‌er@cn‌gloca‌l.com or by calling (718) 260–8303. Follow him on Twitter @JustTheMax.