Rockmart police are one of three agencies currently trying to determine who placed a card reader in area Ingle’s grocery stores.
At least two people attacked Rockmart’s Ingle’s, as well as at least one location in Bartow County and another in Temple, by placing skimmers on regular card readers.
The one in Rockmart appeared to have been commissioned on August 20 and was discovered on August 22.
Rockmart Police are still investigating, but believe at least two of the people (Bartow County and Temple both posted photos at the links above) have been identified and are pursuing the investigation.
Card readers are one of the newest tools credit card fraudsters are using to obtain the card and PIN numbers of people making legitimate purchases in stores. They are attached to publicly accessible card readers – for example, on gas pumps at gas stations or in grocery stores – and the information can then be transmitted wirelessly to the actors who installed them.
Installing a skimmer takes just a few seconds. Usually, the cashier is distracted, so the switch to the traditional credit card reader at the point of sale goes unnoticed.
The model that was set up in Rockmart looks like this:
Anyone who has made purchases at Ingle’s in Rockmart within two days should immediately check their bank account to see if any unauthorized transactions have been made.
Anyone who discovers them should immediately report the fraudulent activity to their banking institution and then contact Rockmart Police Detective Frank Golden, as the case remains under investigation.
