- May 2, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
The Ormond Beach Police Department is hoping to combat a rise in fraud cases by targeting one of the most common ways by which personal information is stolen: skimmers.
Operation Counter Swipe began on Thursday, Dec. 17, and the police department will be implementing the use of a "Skim Reaper," a new piece of technology that alerts officers when a point of sale system has been compromised. The small piece of equipment, valued at $500, mimics a credit or debit card when inserted into the payment system, and if the device finds the "card" has been read twice — a telltale sign of a skimmer's presence — then it will flash a red light. If it's read once, a blue light will come up.
Fraud is one of the most dominant crimes in the city, said Sgt. Tom Larsen. In 2019, the city saw 268 fraud cases, and in 2020, that number to date is 217.
“We’re doing what we can on the physical end to try to find these machines and devices, and also educate the public on being careful about not giving away their personal information to people they don’t know on the phone," Larsen said. "If we can combat this from two sides, educate the public and combat this, then maybe we can try to fight fraud a little bit.”
The issue with most fraud cases is they're extremely difficult to solve. Detective Ray Llanes said a victim of one of the recent fraud cases lost $400,000 in a scam. There are people out there who see the information you put out into social media pages and will try to exploit you, he said. Once you've entered that rabbit hole, especially scams coming from outside the city and county area, the chances of catching the perpetrator become increasingly difficult.
When a new fraud case reaches his desk, the first thing Llanes does is call the victim to verify all the information in the report. Then, he works backwards — Did the crime happen at a physical location? If so, is there video surveillance? Was a skimmer used?
Online scams are a whole different ballgame. Even if you find an IP address, that doesn't guarantee much in today's age of advanced technology, Llanes said.
“We’re not the NSA, the CIA," Llanes said. "We’re local law enforcement and we get what we can get.”
When in doubt, Detective Ryan Mihalko said to question whoever is asking you for information on the phone.
“Anybody who is legitimate will not be offended," Mihalko said.
OBPD warns of scammers asking for money via gift cards or money orders. Those are signs indicating the person posing as an organization, such as the recent Florida Power and Light scams, are not legitimate.
And at the root of all credit and debit card fraud are skimmers, Llanes said. One device could have the ability hold up to a terabyte of information in today's age.
It's organized crime, said Mihalko.
“Back in the day, you ran booze," Mihalko said. "Then you ran guns. Then you ran drugs. Now, it’s running numbers. This is the ploy.”
