MONTPELIER, Vt. – Four Canadians facing charges they crossed into the United States to fraudulently skim money from ATM machines in Vermont could have stolen almost $250,000.
A federal grand jury in Burlington indicted the four men Thursday on a charge they acquired bank account information belonging to others and put it on the magnetic strips of gift cards that were then used at ATMs to get cash advances.
Prosecutors initially said the men obtained about $54,000 fraudulently in cross-the-border travels but more recently say gift cards found in a Vermont storage unit could have potentially been used to steal $680 each, raising the total to nearly $250,000.
The ATM Industry Association says Canada's switch from magnetic strips to chips has reduced the crime there, while the U.S. is still making the transition.
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