Apr. 13—The Colusa County Sheriff's Office said a card skimmer was located and removed Monday morning from a Wells Fargo ATM at the Sites Project Authority parking lot in Maxwell.

According to the FBI, "skimming occurs when devices illegally installed on ATMs, point-of-sale (POS) terminals, or fuel pumps capture data or record cardholders' PINs. Criminals use the data to create fake debit or credit cards and then steal from victims' accounts. It is estimated that skimming costs financial institutions and consumers more than $1 billion each year."

According to Colusa County officials, two suspects arrived at the Maxwell ATM at about 6:10 a.m. on Monday. The pair, a male and a female, allegedly approached the Wells Fargo ATM and installed a card skimmer into it.

Authorities said the male suspect appeared to be white and was seen wearing a facemask covering his nose and mouth, a black and gray hooded Puma jacket, a Hurley trucker-style hat, sweatpants and tennis shoes. The female suspect may possibly be white or Hispanic and was seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, white shirt, black leggings, and white tennis shoes, authorities said.

Both suspects were seen arriving at the location in a "newer white BMW SUV," officials said.

"Wells Fargo technicians discovered the card skimmer a few hours after the ATM continuously provided error codes to Wells Fargo, leading to a technician performing maintenance and locating said skimmer," officials said. "The skimmer was removed and the ATM was inspected for any other equipment but nothing else was located. Colusa County deputies are working with allied agencies to identify or possibly locate the suspects."

The investigation is ongoing and if anyone has information regarding this incident, they are asked to contact Detective Sergeant Luis Ruiz or Detective Kane Lausten at 530-458-0200.