Skimmer at Sag Harbor A.T.M.
A Bloomfield, N.J., man was taken to Sag Harbor Village Justice Court on Aug. 8 from Rikers Island, to be arraigned on charges of stealing tens of thousands of dollars by way of a skimming device placed on an automated teller machine outside the Bridgehampton National Bank on Bay Street. The man, Teck We Gim, 29, has already been charged in New York City and New Jersey with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars via skimming devices.
“The state police did a fantastic job,” Sag Harbor Police Chief Austin McGuire said Friday. State troopers had pulled him over on Dec. 11 on Sunrise Highway and given him a traffic ticket. Later on, armed with images of Mr. Gim and his Porsche Cayenne, police used the ticket to prove the man was on the East End that day, the day he is alleged to have placed the skimmer at the bank in Sag Harbor.
Mr. Gim and his wife, Wendy, were not arrested until March 30, in Rochelle Park, N.J. Police there began investigating after a skimming device was found on an A.T.M. at a West Passaic Street bank earlier that month.
Lt. Dean Pinto of the Rochelle Park police explained on Friday how a skimmer works. Placed over the debit card portal on an A.T.M., it reads and stores the information contained on the card’s magnetic strip. It also records the PIN entered. The thief then uses the information to create counterfeit cards, giving full access to the victim’s bank account. “You can go online and buy these devices for maybe $2,000,” Lieutenant Pinto said.
A skimmer does not work with the new chip cards.
Using surveillance video, police in Rochelle Park soon identified the couple, and learned that besides their New Jersey residence they also maintained an apartment in Astoria, Queens. That brought the New York Police Department into the investigation. Ultimately, the N.Y.P.D. brought over 140 charges against Mr. Gim, including 96 felonies. These include many counts of identity theft causing loss, possession of a forged instrument, falsifying business records, criminal possession of stolen property, and grand larceny.
The New Jersey police raided the couple’s Bloomfield Hills house, then arrested Mr. Gim at a Porsche dealership. They seized a large amount of cash, along with his 2016 Cayenne and a 2015 Ford Explorer. He was taken to the Bergen County jail, charged with multiple counts of possession of a forgery device, trafficking in personal information, identity theft, accessing computer data to defraud another, and possession of property gained through illegal activity. He has since been indicted on the New Jersey charges.
He was turned over to New York City police three weeks later, on April 24, and was arraigned in Queens County Court. Bail was set at $250,000. Unable to make bail, he was sent to Rikers Island. Between then and now, apparently, police connected him to the skimming device at Bridgehampton National.
New York State troopers picked him up at Rikers on Tuesday and took him to Sag Harbor Village headquarters, where he was booked on the local charges, which include grand larceny. Justice Lisa R. Rana set bail at $50,000. After his arraignment, he was returned to Rikers Island, where he remains.
Wendy Gim, 39, who faces lesser charges, is currently free.