Romanian mob is coming for your debit cards, with ATM-style skimmers now at self-checkouts
Prosecutors in California say the Romanian mafia has given a new look to an old scam — debit card skimming — by placing devices to steal personal information on self-checkout machines in grocery stores.
Debit card skimmers have long been problematic at gas stations and ATMs.
Now a highly organized network of crooks is branching out.
“They’ll have people sitting outside a Walmart or a Target, and it looks like they’re panhandling,” says Kimberly Edds, director of public affairs with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. “Sometimes they’ll have a couple of kids.
And they are actually using Bluetooth technology that’s connected to the skimmers inside the stores. So it’s like a two for one, getting cash that people give them and stealing the numbers off the skimmers.”
Surveillance video obtained by the El Cajon Police Department shows suspects can place a skimmer over the checkout’s credit card swipe in just seconds — and they look almost exactly like the real thing.
Police recommend tugging on a credit card swipe before inserting your card. If it wobbles or comes off, it’s fake.
Authorities say they’ve already busted dozens of suspects, most of them with ties to organized crime in Romania.
And despite large busts in December and January of dozens of suspects in the U.S., Europe and Mexico, where they are teaming up with cartels in tourist hot spots like Tulum, the thefts are increasing as thieves double down on their efforts, authorities said.
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