A man walked up to a St. Paul drive-through ATM on a Monday at 6:06 a.m. with a green device in his hands and a minute later he was done. He’d attached a “skimmer.”

The next week, a man working with him put a skimmer on another St. Paul ATM. In both cases, the electronic devices allowed tens of thousands of dollars to be stolen from at least 100 people, according to police.

The perpetrators are suspected in similar west metro cases, and St. Paul police released surveillance photos and video of them Tuesday. Police are asking anyone with information to come forward. They also are urging people using ATMs to take precautions.

St. Paul police said they have not seen many cases of ATM skimming, but the instances had large consequences recently.

The cases occurred when someone attached a skimmer to an ATM card slot and a small camera above it. The skimmers capture information from the magnetic strip of debit cards, including the account number, and the thieves use the cameras to see what PIN numbers are being entered, said Sgt. John McManus, a St. Paul police fraud investigator. Later, they use the information to make their own debit cards and to withdraw money from the account.

When banks started getting reports from their customers about fraudulent activity, they reviewed surveillance videos and saw skimmers had been placed on their drive-through ATMs, McManus said.

The videos showed that at about 6 a.m. July 18, a man walked up to the ATM outside the Bremer Bank at 427 N. Snelling Ave. and put a skimmer on it. On July 22 at about 7 p.m., a different man drove up in a Suzuki Forenza and removed the skimmer and camera, according to police. The car didn’t have a front license plate, and the back one wasn’t readable in the video.

Bremer says they reported to police that the skimmer was removed the same day at 7 p.m. and that another skimmer was placed on the same ATM on July 22 at 7 a.m. and removed on July 24 at 6:40 p.m.

Police later obtained videos that showed a suspect from Bremer had placed a skimmer at the TopLine Federal Credit Union at 976 N. Lexington Parkway on July 24 about 7 a.m. and he picked it up the same day about 6:30 p.m.

Police believe at least three people are involved. A person, who appears to be a female, is in the back of the suspect car, but her face isn’t visible, McManus said.

The same group is also suspected of placing skimmers at TopLine in Brooklyn Park and Plymouth and Bremer in Brooklyn Center, according to McManus, who said police there are investigating.

TopLine immediately alerted authorities when they became aware of it and are “taking all necessary steps to protect our members,” said Vicki Erickson, TopLine vice president of marketing and communications. They notified members who used affected ATMs and are continuing to work to prevent skimmers from being placed on their machines, Erickson said.

Bremer Bank also has worked with law enforcement, including providing video footage of the suspects, said Marcia Jensen, senior vice president, marketing and communications director.

“Bremer has sophisticated fraud monitoring tools in place to help us identify potential fraud,” Jensen said in an email. “Once we identified the recent incidents we were able to quickly support impacted clients.”

The bank is in the process of issuing new debit cards with security chips for increased fraud protection, Jensen said.

The skimmers used in St. Paul wouldn’t be detectable to the average person, but people can still take steps to safeguard themselves, McManus said. He suggests people wiggle the mechanism on an ATM card reader to ensure it’s not loose, which could indicate it was tampered with.

When entering a personal identification number, McManus says people should use their hand to cover the keypad, so their PIN is less likely to be picked up by a hidden camera. Everyone should also regularly monitor their financial records for any fraudulent activity, McManus said.

Skimming devices also have been seen at gas stations locally. Earlier this year, Minnesota officials pledged to ramp up security efforts against credit card skimming at gas pumps.

And on Tuesday, law enforcement, prosecutors, and retail and financial service investigators were talking about this very topic. A presentation on skimming investigations and cloned cards was standing-room only at the Twin Cities Organized Retail Crime Association’s conference, which is Tuesday and Wednesday in Plymouth, said Charles Anderson, the association’s executive director and a St. Paul police sergeant.

Skimming operations are usually multiple layers — there are people in charge, while others are responsible for attaching skimming devices and passing them along to people who retrieve the card information, Anderson said. Cloned cards are then handed over to people who use them to withdraw money, to buy gift cards, or purchase items they can sell.

“Financial fraud doesn’t always grab headlines, but the public is much more likely to have their identity stolen and used in financial crimes than they are to be mugged or assaulted,” Anderson said.

HOW TO HELP

Police ask anyone with information about the suspects in these skimming cases to call them at 651-266-5608.