A fake ATM was found behind a real one in a Bank of Brazil branch in Curitiba, Brazil.

According to Krebs on Security, last month a customer approached the cash machine, dipped his ATM card in the machine’s slot, and entered his PIN, hoping to get a printed statement of his bank balance. When the transaction failed, the customer became suspicious and discovered that this ATM wasn’t a cash machine at all, but a complete fake designed to be seated directly on top of the real cash machine. When the cops arrived, they pulled the fake ATM off the real cash machine.

The backside of the phony cash machine reveals what may be a disassembled laptop with the screen facing outward. The entire apparatus is powered by two large batteries, said Krebs on Security, which has photos of the two ATMs at http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/12/the-biggest-skimmers-of-all-fake-atms/.

In addition, said Krebs, "It’s not clear from the reporting in stories from the Brazilian media...exactly what hardware was included in this device. It seems difficult to believe that thieves would go to all this trouble without incorporating some type of GSM or 3G components that would allow them to retrieve the stolen information wirelessly. I don’t imagine it would be easy to simply walk away from a cash machine unnoticed while holding a giant fake ATM, and a wireless component would let the skimmer scammers offload any stolen data even after their creations were seized by the authorities."

However he did say that the device appears to be nearly identical to a fake ATM found in April 2013 in Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, which had a 3G mobile connection, reportedly for sending the stolen card and PIN data to the thieves wirelessly via text message.