Already, there have been two reports of this happening at local Walmart stores.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Local police are warning folks about the ‘Cash Drop Scam‘ which ends up robbing you of your debit card and your PIN. Thomasville Police have had two reports of the scam taking place at a local Walmart, once in October and once last week.
I think a lot of folks would say, I’d know if a scammer was getting my card, but it happens fast.
“It goes faster than you think. Each victim that I, that I’ve, I’ve talked to and the patrol officers that I’ve talked to, they said that, you know, it happened so fast. I, I didn’t know until I was already leaving and then I knew my stuff was gone,” said Detective Lewis Lomba, Thomasville Police Department.
2 Wants To Know did a demonstration to show you how the scam works.
Usually, there are two scammers working together. One of them targets you at the checkout and waits for you to use your debit card and put in your PIN. The first scammer could be in line with you, at a register in the next line, or even, standing around looking like they’re waiting on someone. They can see the PIN pad, maybe even using their phone as a camera to zoom in to the PIN pad to record which numbers you push.
Scammer #2 then creates a distraction of some sort. They call it the ‘Drop Cash Scam’ because the scammer will say that maybe you dropped some cash that is on the floor or it could be a lottery ticket or something else. Once they have your focus away from the PIN pad, they take your card from the machine.
By the time the distraction is over, they are out of the store. You may or may not even remember you didn’t take your card out of the machine. You find out your card and PIN have been compromised when you see it on your Mobile Bank Account.
THE SCAMMERS BLEND IN
“These people are, they often blend in and you wouldn’t, you wouldn’t think they would, would do anything to, to that extent to you. But they, they will,” said Lomba.
Don’t think you would recognize the scammers. In this latest case, the distraction was caused by a “female shopper”. The “male shopper” was the one who caught the PIN.
In the Thomasville case, the male suspect involved is believed to be wanted in another state for the same scam.
“With some more research, I was able to find out that this individual is actually a suspect from the NYPD. So it’s going all the way down, all the way up the east coast,” said Lomba.
THE BEST WAY TO PROTECT YOURSELF
What can you do? Be aware for sure. But you should also be protecting your PIN. Stand in front of the machine. Put your hand over it if needed.
