2 men arrested in Newberg credit card ‘skimming’ bust

PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) — Two men were arrested for allegedly attempting to attach a card skimmer to a bank ATM in Newberg on the evening of July 12.

Newberg-Dundee Police Department officers responded to the First Federal Savings and Loan in Newberg for a reported fraud in progress, after a bank employee witnessed someone tampering with the ATM, police said. Responding officers found 48-year-old Adrian Levi of Oregon and 32-year-old Luis Miguel Gonzalez-Pena of Michigan at the scene and took the men into custody.

“Officers believe the two suspects were attempting to attach a ‘skimming’ device onto the ATM,” the Newberg-Dundee Police stated. “These devices are discreet and capture information from a customer’s bank card so a new card can be manufactured with the customer’s information. The manufactured card is then used to fraudulently access funds in the customer’s account.”

Newberg-Dundee officers say they found numerous skimming devices while serving a search warrant on a van driven by the suspects. Levi and Gonzalez-Pena and Levi were booked into the Yamhill County Jail for charges related to attempted fraud, including computer crime, unlawful credit card factoring and criminal mischief in the first degree.

“The Newberg-Dundee Police want to make the public aware of these skimming devices,” NDPD said. “They are very discreet and hard to detect. Often, they are attached to point-of-sale terminals at grocery stores or on an ATM. Be on the lookout for suspicious attachments and contact your local police department if you believe you are a victim of fraud.”

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