{"id":194292,"date":"2026-02-26T05:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T05:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/194292\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T05:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T05:16:11","slug":"a-tap-on-the-shoulder-a-bank-card-theft-alleged-atm-scam-duo-sought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/194292\/","title":{"rendered":"A tap on the shoulder, a bank card theft. Alleged ATM scam duo sought"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>An ATM con that involves some snooping, some acting and some sleight-of-hand is being carried out across Southern California, police say. And the victims may be the least able to spot the scam.<\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles Police Department is calling on the public for help in identifying a pair of alleged scammers who officials say have been targeting elderly bank customers for at least a month. <\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s how investigators say the scheme plays out.<\/p>\n<p>One suspect watches the victim as they enter their PIN on the ATM keypad. The same suspect drops a $20 bill behind the victim, then taps them on the shoulder to alert them that they appear to have dropped some money. <\/p>\n<p>            <img class=\"image\" alt=\"A woman in a white shirt\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"2080\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772082970_624_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p>Police released photos of two suspects, including a woman, in a series of ATM thefts.<\/p>\n<p>(Los Angeles Police Department)<\/p>\n<p>While the victim is retrieving the money, a second suspect quickly removes the ATM card from the machine and replaces it with a counterfeit card that closely resembles the original. <\/p>\n<p>The victim unknowingly takes the fake card, unaware that their actual bank card has been stolen. <\/p>\n<p>            <img class=\"image\" alt=\"A bearded man wearing a baseball cap\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"1692\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772082971_592_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p>The pair of suspects are accused of committing a series of distraction scams at Southern California ATMs.<\/p>\n<p>(Los Angeles Police Department)<\/p>\n<p>According to authorities, the suspects use the stolen card to withdraw thousands of dollars from the victim\u2019s account. <\/p>\n<p>Among victims, authorities say, was an 83-year-old man who went to an ATM in the 2100 block of Colorado Boulevard around noon Jan. 15. <\/p>\n<p>Shortly after 1 p.m., police say, the suspects were seen at a local bank in the 800 block of North San Fernando Boulevard withdrawing the victim\u2019s money. <\/p>\n<p>Police have released images of the suspects and are asking anyone with information to contact investigators at (213) 486-5947 or (877) 527-3247. <\/p>\n<p>Those wishing to remain anonymous can contact the Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477 or via the organization\u2019s website, <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lacrimestoppers.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">LACrimeStoppers.org.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An ATM con that involves some snooping, some acting and some sleight-of-hand is being carried out across Southern&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[90809,90807,90808,6577,6236,7,9,8,90806,3816,90810,4263,236,25709,19426,2131,3293,2601],"class_list":{"0":"post-194292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-alleged-atm-scam-duo","9":"tag-atm-card","10":"tag-atm-con","11":"tag-authority","12":"tag-block","13":"tag-california","14":"tag-california-headlines","15":"tag-california-news","16":"tag-dollar-bill","17":"tag-investigator","18":"tag-lacrimestoppers","19":"tag-money","20":"tag-police","21":"tag-scammer","22":"tag-shoulder","23":"tag-suspect","24":"tag-thousand","25":"tag-victim"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}