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Three arrested for installing card skimmers at 7-Eleven ATMs

Posted at 10:35 PM, Jan 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-20 00:50:54-05

Three people have been arrested in connection to card skimmers found on ATM's inside two Cape Coral 7-Eleven stores. 

Petra Velcu, Rebeca Milataru, and a 15 year-old girl have been charged with fraud.

According to an arrest report, the trio worked together to install a card reader and a pinhole camera on ATMs at a 7-Eleven at 3206 Santa Barbara Blvd and another located at 345 Cape Coral Parkway.

A manager in the store noticed a woman placing a skimmer on an ATM and notified police, according to the Cape Coral police department.

Detectives say the suspects installed the device during morning hours, and later returned to retrieve it.

"I try pulling it,"  said Ashley Law, referring to the card reader at gas station pumps. Law told Fox 4 it didn't cross her mind that she would also have to check ATMs for bogus card readers.

Customers who frequent the 7-Eleven stores were surprised by the discovery.

"It's a little scary you always hear about it being on the pumps, but you're not thinking about it being inside," said Amelia Lynn.

According to the arrest report, an officer spotted the pinhole camera overlay on the ground next to the suspects' vehicle.

"That's even scary," said Law. "I don't know why people would even think that was okay especially with video camera's being inside the store."

A spokesperson for the Cape Coral police department says some skimmers are equipped with bluetooh technology which sends the victim's information to a suspect's cellphone.