Shoppers are facing a news skimming threat as fraudsters switch Eptpos terminals with their own rigged machines. The doctored machines, which are placed in retail stores, are being used to download customers’ credit card details.
Three men have stolen at least nine machines from Moorabbin, Chadstone, Waverly Gardens, Dandenong and Brandon Park shopping centres since January, and replicated shoppers’ credit card details to buy up big in Canada, the UK and Europe.
Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman said merchants had been told to be vigilant. “It become very difficult when a machine has been compromised in a store and you don’t know”
Glen Waverly CIU detective Sen-Constable Adam Bell said the trio of suspects had worked as team to distract sales assistants, then switched the existing Eftpos machine with their own. Credit card information was then download or skimmed from the stolen machine and used in transactions until either the card owner or the associated financial institution became aware of the theft. The machines were stolen between January 19 and 30. Sen-Constable Bell would not reveal how much money had been stolen, but said banking had generally been accommodating refunded the cardholders.
The suspects are described as Indian or Pakistani in appearance and aged in their late 20s or early 30s.