The two men charged with an ATM scam were caught in Canyon Park, Bothell

So as a disclaimer, these 2 guys have not yet been charged.

But what a great scam. Two men (identified as Ion Armeanca and Dan Petri) set up a FAKE ATM in Ballard and put a BECU logo on it. Then, they put a little machine that can copy information off of your ATM card into the machine. Next, they mounted a little camera right above the keypad to capture your PIN number. After a few people used the ATM (which never gave them money and most likely said it was "OUT OF ORDER"… after of course their information as already captured, the 2 men went and picked up the machine, copied the information to new cards and heading to our little town of Bothell.

The Bothell police responded to some concerned Bothell citizen that had mentioned there were 2 men down in Canyon Park at the Chase and Bank of America branches taking out large sums of money. The police nabbed the perps and handed them over to the Feds. Don't mess with ATM's people, Uncle Sam takes it personally when bad guys do something that might make American Consumers more cautious with their spending habits.

Lesson learned: Do not use an ATM that looks sketchy. Go to the bank and use the one you KNOW has some money in it.

So how does this scam work? Heres how:

1. A hacker adds a SKIMMER to the ATM. These can look like a normal ATM Card reader.

2. Once on the machine, it looks like a normal reader. See?

3. Then the hacker adds a camera to track your key strokes. Oh, and by the way, these guys are in a car watching you as you are trying to get cash. The key to this scam is to get IN and OUT ASAP. They only let 5-10 people do this before they come over and pick up their hacker equipment.

4. Once all the equipment is set up, it looks like an ordinary ATM set up. Just be smart, be mindful and you will not be scammed.