Two male suspects allegedly “skimmed” 69 credit cards through an ATM at the USF Credit Union off N. Palm Avenue on Sept. 17, according to University Police spokesman Michael Klingebiel.They left the scene after 43 minutes with $4,110, he said.

Most of the compromised bank accounts were from the Orlando area, Klingebiel said.

“That’s why we’re theorizing someone came from the Orlando area for the USF-UCF game.”

Credit card skimming occurs when someone copies information from the magnetic strip on the back of a bank card and later uses it for unauthorized purchases, cash withdrawals or to make counterfeit credit cards.

The suspects were caught on video at the ATM.

“(From the video) they appear to be white cards with a magnetic strip on them,” Klingebiel said, “which is commercially available. And on those (cards) are credit card numbers or ATM bank account numbers and the compromised pin.”

Unfortunately, the things people do in their daily lives makes them susceptible to this kind of crime, Klingebiel said.

“When we go to a restaurant, the waiters and waitresses walk off with our credit cards, and they come back and we sign, put a tip on (the receipt), and we go about our business,” Klingebiel said. “Once the waiter or waitress is out of your sight, who knows what they are doing with the card? That’s the most common way that this type of crime occurs.”

UP officers are trying to identify the suspects.

“We believe that somebody should know them if they did come to the game and they were on the campus. They probably do know people on the campus. We are looking at fraud charges and theft charges.”

On campus parking becomes dangerous

After losing “his” parking space, USF student Bruce Miller crashed into another vehicle and nearly ran over pedestrians outside the Edgar W. Kopp Engineering building Thursday.

“This particular individual who we arrested – according to the witnesses and victims – lost out on that space, tried to hit the vehicle that was pulling into the parking space, and then went around again, causing the pedestrians to jump out of the way,” Klingebiel said.

According to a USF police report, Miller was taken into custody and transported to the Hillsborough County Jail.

Although this kind of altercation is rare, Klingebiel said parking disputes are reported to UP only a handful of times a year.

“Sometimes you’ll get someone so mad that they actually follow someone to their classroom or their office, and they’re yelling at them the entire time,” Klingebiel said.