A Romanian mob is reported to be sending thousands of fraudsters into the U.S. to steal your debit card information, using a new twist on the old card skimmer scam.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office has sent out an alert to consumers.
Authorities are always warning people to double-check card readers at the store or gas station, and make sure it’s not loose or shaky. But there’s a new Bluetooth skimmer device that isn’t easily visible.
“The device before was something that was put over the existing card reader and you can kind of see them and especially at a gas station where there was a bunch of them in a row. You could tell the difference,” Martin County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy John Budensiek told CBS12.
Deputies, say the ones downloading people’s information from the wireless device are always close by. More commonly, they’re women with children out on the street begging for money.
“They’re getting the money that people get citizens handing them and they’re getting your credit, debit card information,” Budensiek said.
Photos taken from a busy intersection in Martin County last week show what appears to be a woman and her three small children holding signs asking for money.
“They’re using children or violins or combination of both to panhandle in our county, so you’ll still see them and we encourage people not to give them money, regardless of how desperate they look because they’re not desperate,” Budensiek said. “They have plenty of money. We have in some instances with their permission searched them. They have several thousands of dollars worth of cash on them. We’ve looked in their cars at grocery bags full of food because people not only give them cash, they give them food. So, the whole thing is a scam.”
Budensiek said these scammers are part of a much bigger scheme to steal your card information.
Fraudsters working with the Romanian mafia are attaching virtually undetectable hardware at self-checkouts, ATM’s, and gas pumps. As soon as the skimmer reads your card information, the wireless device sends it directly over to an accomplice who deputies say is oftentimes seen begging nearby.
“It’s scary. It’s a scary thing that, you know, somewhere down the road that you know they get into, they get into your bank account information,” a Stuart resident told CBS12 News.
