Over the course of 24 hours, electronic thieves raided the debit-card accounts of about 500 Magna Bank customers in southern Illinois.
Bank officials said the thieves took various amounts from the accounts, up to the daily withdrawal limit of $2,000, before computer checks detected the fraud and measures were taken to stop it last Friday afternoon. Most of the fraudulent withdrawals were made late last Thursday. The total amount of money stolen has yet to be determined, and bank officials were trying to learn how the fraud was carried out. No suspects have been identified.
Bank officials said the thieves could have fooled an ATM machine with a fake card or used a store machine normally used to make purchases with credit and debit cards.
Anyone who lost money will be reimbursed by the bank, a bank official said.
