Rockdale County deputies are among the victims recently hit by credit card scamsters that copied ATM card information and withdrew from accounts of at least 50 area credit union members.

At least six deputies and one employee in the city of Conyers, who are all members of the Georgia United Credit Union, formerly the Georgia  Federal Credit Union, had accounts that were affected by ID thieves.

“They’re somehow cloning their ATM cards and using it in Maryland and Los Angeles 7-11 stores,” said RCSO spokesperson Sgt. Jodi Shupe. Other states where withdrawals are taking place include Virginia and Washington D.C.

About 50 GUCU customers altogether were affected, according to GUCU spokesperson Kim Walls. GUCU has 16 branch locations, including one on Milstead Avenue, and about 100,000 customers.

GUCU is only one of several area credit unions that had compromised accounts, said Shupe.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that thieves also struck Associated Credit Union customers in a similar fashion.

The common factor for the GUCU accounts was that all the victims had Visa debit cards, said Walls. Investigators are looking into the location of where the account information might have been compromised, said Walls.

As part of security measures, GUCU instituted a $20 per day withdrawal limit in the states where the illegal withdrawals are taking place, according to Amy Fisk, GUCU Identity Theft and Loss Prevention Officer. Customers who are legitimately in those states can contact the credit union to get the limit lifted.

Fisk said all affected customers have been notified and have had their money refunded.

She recommended victims file a police report.

“If some of the members do file police reports, it’s in their favor. If an arrest is made in their state, they’ll contact our members to let them know an arrest was made,” said Fisk.

As a general precaution, Walls recommended customers not give account information over the phone or online in transactions that they did not initiate.

“Just be alert and monitor your account activity,” she recommended. “You can look at your accounts online everyday. If you see anything out of the ordinary, call your financial institution.”

“The member could be doing everything right,” she said. “You just have to be so careful now.”

The credit union first began noticing unusual activity around June 6, according to Kimberly Schoats, GUCU card services manager. “VISA notified our members of suspicious activity and worked with us quickly to block members’ cards,” Schoats wrote in an email.

Shupe said one of the victims, the husband of an RCSO investigator, had his account compromised about three weeks ago.