"Actually I thought it was a mistake that I had a made, a math mistake," said Karl Shoemaker.
Karl Shoemaker, who asked not to appear on camera, had just gotten ahead of his bills. Having been laid off not long ago, finances were a struggle, but he managed to pay the mortgage ahead of time, and had some extra money for Christmas gifts. So, a few weeks back he went to this ATM to withdraw $100.
"It took my card like it normally does, but all that happened was a bunch of noises and it kicked out a slip saying this ATM is not working properly," said Shoemaker.
The next day, he tried again, and found the money he knew he'd saved, was gone.
"A little over $1,200, and they just kept withdrawing until the account itself was empty," said Shoemaker.
Police say 5 men made up the group behind the grab, scamming bank customers with what's called ATM skimming.
"Well this was clearly a sophisticated, well organized operation," said Risa Ferman, Montgomery Co. District Attorney.
Montgomery County DA Risa Ferman says the 5 men, all Bulgarian nationals charged Friday, operated out of this Norristown hotel, installing high tech scanning devices in ATMs throughout Montgomery and Chester Counties, using information on the back of customers' cards to steal nearly $135,000, from at least 143 victims.
It's typically a deception that hard to detect.
"It is not until sometime after the fact that victims even learn that they've been compromised. And by that time, the likelihood is that these fellows just completely disappear," said Ferman.
Not this time. Lower Providence police tracked the men, who they say matched ATM surveillance video, back to the hotel, where investigators say they found evidence conclusively linking them to the crimes.
Their alleged scam subtle, its victims say always be suspicious.
"All I can say is just look the machine over carefully and hopefully you won't make the mistake that I did," said Shoemaker.
