Scam targets big-box shoppers

Below is the Brick and Mortar Version of a story which demonstrates what lengths fraudsters are willing to go through to get your card information and your PIN. 

The Internet Version will be out about 30-60 days after Pulse starts their pilot...stay tuned:

Police say sly thieves steal credit card, debit card information from unsuspecting targets
By Laura Payton, The Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — Police are warning about a fraud ring targeting shoppers at big-box stores like Wal-Mart and Super-C.

Police say the thieves pick out a shopper inside the store, usually a woman 45-years-old or older. Their goal is to steal her credit or debit card information.  They follow her to the checkout, watch as she enters her personal identification number, and then follow her to the parking lot.
 
Once outside the store, one person asks for directions to distract the shopper, while an accomplice takes the shopper’s cards. The thieves are well equipped with a card reader. They either steal the shopper’s wallet, or slip the card out of the wallet, run it surreptitiously through the card reader to obtain the information, and return it to the victim.

“The victim doesn’t see that until the bank calls her and says to her, ‘You are a victim of fraud’,” says Const. Isabelle Poirier, Gatineau police spokeswoman.  Poirier says the fraudsters could be working around the province.  “It’s been (happening) in all the province of Quebec. It appears in other towns, too. They come here, they do one or two events like that and probably they do that everywhere in Quebec,” she said.

The suspects are men and women, between the ages of 25 and 45. They speak French with a Middle-Eastern accent. Police say they are investigating 15 incidents since last summer, and they ask anyone who has been a victim of this type of crime to contact them.

Shoppers should make sure they watch anyone who approaches them and keep their personal belongings close. Always cover your hand when you enter your PIN, and never give out personal information such as a birth date to strangers.  Editor's Note:  Another bit of advice:  Never type your card number into a browser.  I'd tell you to cover your screen when you enter your PIN on a floating PIN Pad, but that won't do anything to help you.   Oh, and never give out your PIN to strangers.  In fact, never give out your PIN to ANYONE.