Urgent warning over new self-checkout scam at popular store - it went completely unnoticed by customers
Georgia Police have issued an urgent warning after uncovering the new scam READ MORE: Supermarket copies small business and then steals their photos
Police have been forced to issue an urgent warning after discovering a worrying new self-checkout scam.
Crooks had placed a card-skimming device - disguised as a pin pad - in the self-service aisle of a Kroger grocery store in Atlanta, Georgia.
After studying CCTV, detectives who were alerted to the device on June 6 found it had been placed there FOUR days earlier by two men.
Card skimmers, often hidden by fraudsters on cash and card machines, steal information such as card numbers and pins from credit and debit cards.
With that information, they can make fake cards or use the information for online purchases without the owner's permission.
Atlanta Police uncovered a card-skimming device in the popular Kroger grocery store
Images of the individuals were released last week alongside a $2,000 reward f
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The trick was discovered by a store employee who immediately contacted Atlanta Police.
Officers were able to identify two suspects from security footage 'placing the fraudulent device into the self-checkout machine on June 2, 2024.'
Concerningly, the device was on the card reader for four days before being spotted. It is not yet clear how many customers were affected.
Images of the individuals were released last week alongside a $2,000 reward for information leading to their arrest, according to Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta.
'Investigators with the Atlanta Police Department's Fraud Unit are requesting the public's assistance with providing information on the suspects shown in attached photographs' Crime Stoppers wrote in a social media post.
The released images show two men, both wearing white t-shirts and caps seemingly shopping in the store.
One is carrying a bouquet of flowers while the other stands slightly behind him pushing a shopping cart.
'So their fraudulent pin pad remained in place for 4 days unnoticed? Yikes' one concerned customer wrote about the incident on Reddit.
Others raised concerns that they may not be able to determine a card skimmer from a legitimate checkout machine.
Self checkouts are controversial among Americans. Many don't like using them or worry they are taking jobs away from supermarket staff.
They have also caused problems for retailers, who were keen to roll them out as a cost-saving measure. But bosses have found they have led to a jump in shoplifting as customers will not scan all items.
As a result, big chains like Walmart, Target and Dollar General are removing self-checkouts or changing the rules around their use.
For example, Dollar General has stopped the use of self-checkouts in 12,000 of its stores - leaving them in only a handful of shops.
It comes after the supermarket chain, which operates 2,750 stores in 35 states, after it came under fire last week for stealing promotional photos from a family-owned peach business.
The Peach Truck, which has been operating in Georgia for twelve years discovered earlier this month that not only had Kroger announced its own service to sell Georgia peaches from brightly colored trucks but that it had also used images from his company's Instagram.
Kroger came under fire for stealing promotional photos from a family-owned peach business
The Peach Truck's owner posted a video about the incident to TikTok where it received over a million views.
Kroger responded to the backlash by taking down the offending photos and apologizing to The Peach Truck.
Kroger recently beat Wall Street's revenue and profit expectations in its latest earnings report.
The chain has also seen a 5.1 percent increase in customer visits to its stores.