Two suspects arrested for NE Florida, SE Georgia card skimming ring allegedly used 'new generation' of skimmers

Jacksonville, FL — Following the recent arrests of two suspects tied to a card skimming ring impacting Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia, we're learning new details about how they allegedly operated.

The Putnam County Sheriff's Office held a press conference Monday afternoon, detailing the operation.

According to Sheriff Gator DeLoach, 35-year-old Elena Matei and 18-year-old Plopsor Matei, are accused of placing card skimmers and pinhole cameras on various ATMS to get your card information, including PIN.

But DeLoach says their alleged ring used a 'new generation' of skimmers.

"These skimmers are unlike anything we have seen previously. Again, the older type skimmers were more of an overlay type skimmer that would go or was placed directly over the card reader and to a trained eye were very easy to detect. I can assure you, that is not the case with this new generation of skimmers if you will. It's extremely alarming that we are seeing this not only in the Northeast Florida area, but across the nation," explains DeLoach.

He recommends keeping an eye out for any blue or sticky substances on the card reader itself.

DeLoach says to help protect yourself from skimmers, both new and old, check your bank information daily. He also suggests signing up for a free monitoring application through one of the three major credit bureaus.

"I think that it's safe to say, at this point in 2019, we should all assume that we may become a victim at some point. So we have to take these very simple measures to protect ourselves or at least mitigate the risk of becoming a victim in one of these cases," says DeLoach.

DeLoach says this alleged card skimming operation stole more than $100,000.

WATCH: PUTNAM COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE NEWS CONFERENCE ON ALLEGED CARD SKIMMING RING