You never know who’s a secret tech-master. It could be anyone you meet on the street… Or even a McDonald’s cashier. And that’s the core of today’s cautionary post. A McStaffer was caught skimming customers’ payment cards with a sneaky ‘device’…
A Springtown, Texas, McDonald’s worker was arrested Sunday, January 18, charged with fraud for an alleged scam at the Fast Food outlet’s order counter…
‘Tapping into’ credit cards
Police say Giovanni Primo Blount (see photo, top of page) was, “fraudulently charging an additional $10 – $20 per transaction,” when processing customer card payments.
He’s believed to have first processed legitimate customer payments on the McDonald’s card scanner, then secretly tapping their cards on his own personal device.
Blount may have deposited more than $700 to his own bank account over 50 fraudulent transactions.
Not a common occurrence
The techno-scam is not believed to be in common use. But it’s apparently not too hard to implement. If you know how the system works.
So… Springtown Police issued a detailed warning to consumers about payment card safety and security following Blount’s arrest”
They recommend everyone take the following safety measures:
My take
I was thinking about it…
And I know I’d find it a little strange if a store employee wanted to take my card out of my hand to tap it, or place it in the scanner slot. Almost all legit retailers and service providers will insist you do that yourself. Maybe it’s a policy to ensure you don’t accuse them of financial skulduggery after the fact.
From the store’s side of the transaction, it’s a good precaution.
You may think this post is redundant – that you already know all you need to know about card payment systems. But on something as important as your hard-earned cash – a little refresher never hurts…
~ Maggie J.