THIEVES have targeted multiple stores with credit card skimmers, putting shoppers on high alert during the busy holiday season.
Stores are now urging shoppers to check their card statements to be sure that they haven’t fallen victim to the skimmers.
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Roche Bros. Supermarkets, a Massachusetts-based chain that operates stores in the same name plus the Sudbury Farms chain, shared the warning.
An associate at the Sudbury Farms in Sudbury noticed something was awry at one of the self-checkout lanes’ pin pads on Christmas Eve, according to local ABC affiliate WCVB.
Skimmers – which thieves use to steal shoppers’ information – were then found on multiple self-checkout lane pin pads at that location.
After further inspection of its 20 locations, skimmers were found at self-checkout lanes in four other stores:
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- Sudbury Farms in Needham
- Brothers Marketplace in Weston
- Roche Bros. Supermarket in Wellesley
- Roche Bros. Supermarket in Natick
“As a result, some customers who have shopped at any of these five locations on the self-checkouts only on or before December 24 may have been impacted,” the company said in a statement.
There is no indication that customers’ data was compromised.
Police have also been alerted to the situation.
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This is far from the first instance of credit card skimmers being found at stores in 2023.
A Walmart in Pennsylvania was impacted earlier this year when a skimmer was found on a self-checkout card reader.
It was believed to have been there for more than a week before it was discovered.
“A customer at the Walmart in Wilkes-Barre Township tried to use their card and it met some resistance,” Detective Robert Capparell at the Wilkes-Barre Township Police told local CBS affiliate WBRE-TV.
“So an associate came over and checked the device for the card and this [device] came off.”
Skimmers are dangerous because they can record PINs and also the stripe on a credit card.
Thieves can then go on wild spending sprees, wracking up sky-high credit card bills.
Using a cell phone to pay for items at self-checkout is one way to avoid having your information compromised.
Skimmers typically cannot steal information when you use tap-to-pay.