WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Suspected skimming; dumped-likely-stolen dog items (and more)
Two reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch this afternoon:
SUSPECTED SKIMMING: From Michael:
I’d like to get the word out that my debit card information was likely skimmed when I used it at the ATM inside QFC on 42nd & Alaska, then was used by the thief at the ATM inside the Safeway in Jefferson Square, a few days later.
The worst part of the scam was a battery of emails, text messages, and phone calls pretending to be from my bank, alerting me to the fraud. These messages were mixed into the real fraud alerts from my bank. The fake ones were hard to distinguish from the real ones. These messages were designed to trick me into giving bank account authentication information to the thief (or thieves), and perhaps for identity theft as well.
My bank assures me that I’ll be able to dispute the fraudulent withdrawal after it is posted to my account. If the thief had succeeded at taking over my account, I might not have been able to dispute it, and they might have been able to empty the account using the payments service.
I reported this to the police, via the website, giving them the time that the fraudulent ATM withdrawal was made, and where. Hopefully that can help identify a suspect.
The card skimmer is likely gone already, but I figure a public service announcement would be useful for the community.
DUMPED-LIKELY-STOLEN: From Greta:
I found a milk crate full of a dog harness, leashes, and some keys, maybe a house key, in our alley behind our house. Also someone dumped a Yakima car topper.
If any of that might be yours, contact us and we’ll connect you.
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