Westchester Police Break Up $1 Million ATM Skimming Ring

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A series of arrests in Westchester has police warning New Yorkers to protect their bank account information.

Police say five men connected to an Eastern European organized crime ring have been arrested. They are believed to be targeting ATM machines in affluent neighborhoods.

Police say ATM card readers and pinhole cameras have been recovered from machines in Bronxville, Pelham, Yonkers and Yorktown.

The gang takes the information it gleans from the skimming and clones new cards, police say. Then they use the cloned cards to withdraw cash at busy ATM machines in Manhattan.

The increasing sophistication of the ATM card skimming devices make them increasingly difficult to spot. However, officials say that a few simple precautions will thwart efforts to skim. For example,  when punching in your ATM code, cover your hand so a camera can't spot it.

The gang has made off with roughly $1 million that police know about. More than a third of the cash they stole was based on information from a single skimming device at an ATM in Bronxville.

It's the third skimming ring that's been broken up in recent days.

Are you concerned about ATM skimming? Sound off in our comments section.