BLAKELY, Pa. — Ashley Donnelly from Peckville says a little over a week ago, she was out shopping in Dickson City when she got a notification of bank transactions, but there was one problem. Those transactions were coming from a completely different store in the Clarks Summit area. That's when Donnelly says she panicked.
"I immediately call the bank and locked my card. They said, obviously, it's not you, and after that, I called the police," Donnelly said.
According to Blakely Police, these surveillance pictures show the person they believe tried to use Donnelly's banking information to withdraw money at Rite Aid and Sheetz in South Abington Township.
"He's not sure where the person got my information because I had my physical card on me. Somehow, he got the information, including my PIN," said Donnelly.
Dickson City Police had a similar case around the same time involving a different victim and suspect. Police Chief Will Bilinski says his department deals with these types of cases often, mostly because we've become a cashless society.
"If a man can make it, a man can beat it. And that's what's happening right now. You have a man-made electronic world where someone is transferring funds, and now you have somebody who's finding a way to take those funds away from the general public," said Chief Bilinski.
The hardest part for police is figuring out when and how thieves get that information.
"A criminal doesn't have to play by any rules, but we have to. We have to get search warrants, we have to get court orders to get the banking information, and keep going with these cases. It's low risk, high reward for the criminal," Bilinski said.
Donnelly says her bank was able to replace the stolen funds, but the situation still leaves her unsettled.
"It just makes you think, where else can it happen, or can it happen again? And that's what terrifies us," said Donnelly.
If you have any information on who the person in the surveillance pictures is, you're asked to call Blakely Police Detective Peter Petrucci at (570)383-3346 at extension #121.