Update: Criminals targeting ATM customers in Modesto

Be sure to complete your transaction before walking away from an ATM. Specifically, if the screen asks if you want to conduct another transaction, hit “no” if you don’t. Simply leaving could leave you open to theft, Modesto police say.

On May 23, the Police Department posted on its Facebook page a photo and message that read, in part: “Do you know him? He is wanted for theft after withdrawing money from the victim’s bank account at an ATM on I Street.”

The ATM is one of a few in a row outside the Bank of America Financial Center at 16th Street. One photo taken by an ATM camera, said police spokeswoman Heather Graves, shows the suspect in the background, close enough to look over the victim’s shoulder to see the PIN entered.

If a customer didn’t respond “no” when asked about conducting another transaction, there was enough delay that another person could step up, answer “yes,” enter the stolen PIN and withdraw money, Graves said.

Investigators talked with local Bank of America staff, Graves said, but it wasn’t a branch-level issue.

A Bank of America spokeswoman said late Monday afternoon that the ATM setup has changed. “To help protect customers from fraud, Bank of America’s ATMs require customers to reinsert their card and re-enter their PIN to perform a second transaction,” said Colleen Haggerty. “Our ATMs no longer ask customers if they want to ‘perform another transaction.’ ”

Monday morning just before 10, Modesto police got a report of a suspicious person at the BBVA Compass bank at The Lakes shopping center on Oakdale Road north of Floyd Avenue.

A witness said a black male adult walked up to the ATM a few times right after a customer had used it. The caller said the man appeared to use a fake card to try to get money, Graves said. “When we got there, he had already fled,” Graves said.

No victims had come forward Monday afternoon, so the theft attempts may have been unsuccessful or people may not have yet realized money was taken. The bank refused to release surveillance video, Graves said. “That’s not typical – banks usually are cooperative.”

Without a victim or footage that clearly shows a crime, “this isn’t even anything we can investigate right now,” she said.

In the Bank of America theft last month from the I Street ATM customer, police ask that anyone who recognizes the suspect contact Crime Stoppers at 209-521-4636.

This story was originally published June 13, 2016 at 3:48 PM with the headline "Update: Criminals targeting ATM customers in Modesto."