- December 4, 2025
COMPILED BY THE OBSERVER STAFF
March 4
Almost scammed by skimmer
9:44 a.m. — 100 Block of East Granada Boulevard. Fraud. The officer responded to a report of a skimming device found on an ATM. The bank employee said the victim came in that morning and said he was having trouble with the ATM, so the employee went out to check on the machine and noticed the skimming device. The employee said he had checked the machine the day before, at 9 a.m., and the device was not on the machine.
Video footage of the area is being processed. The skimming device was entered into evidence.
March 2
Start of a skimming-spree?
1:12 p.m. — 100 Block of East Granada Boulevard. Fraud. The victim said he went to use the ATM outside a bank (a different bank than in the incident listed above), and he added that he makes it a point to pull on the card reader to make sure there is no skimming device before he inserts his card. Only, this time, when he did so a small piece came off from the side that reads the magnetic strip on the card.
Photos were taken by police of the device on and off the ATM. A security person at the bank said it may or may not be a skimming device. He said the bank had placed anti-skimmer devices on some of the ATMs and he is going to investigate if this ATM had one installed.
March 4
Take a 'byte' out of crime
10:12 a.m. — First Block of Tropical Falls Drive. Theft. The victim said that, in January, one of his computers picked up a virus, and so he made contact with an IT guy, the suspect, through Craig’slist. The victim dropped off the computer at a local apartment. The suspect fixed the computer, and the victim said he was pleased with the work.
Later, the victim took six computers to have the suspect make repairs or install programs. He did not hear from the suspect and could not get him on the phone so called police a month later. While the officer was there, the victim called the suspect, and the suspect said he had been in the hospital but would give the computers back by noon.
The next day, the victim called the police officer and said he tried to call the suspect but the phone had been disconnected. The officer went to the apartment and found that the suspect had been evicted. He also discovered that the suspect had absconded from parole and probation, and a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
The victim was unable to provide any serial numbers and estimates his loss at $1,600.
