CONNECTICUT, USA — Anyone who shopped at a Big Y Supermarket recently may want to check their bank accounts. The Massachusetts-based grocery giant that operates stores across Connecticut said two of their locations were compromised.
One of those locations is in Plainville and the other is Naugatuck. Big Y officials said that on June 29, they discovered a single skimmer scanner installed on a credit card terminal inside each store.
“It’s kind of scary I guess to think that that would be found in our store,” said Danielle Johnson of Plainville.
The devices can read and record not only card numbers, but sometimes PIN codes too.
“I’ve heard that about gas stations,” remarked Ima Lugo of New Britain, “so I don’t use my card at gas stations I pay with cash for that reason.”
Big Y said they are advising shoppers to check their credit card and bank account statements.
“At this time we don’t have any reports of anybody having their information compromised but we want people to be alert,” explained Jade Rivera-McFarlin, Big Y’s spokesperson.
Big Y said the skimming devices were discovered during routine store safety checks, which they said are conducted multiple times each day.
“We checked our camera and noticed the time period and gave all that information to law enforcement. They were not there very long,” said Rivera-McFarlin.
Skimmer technology isn’t new but it has evolved to become nearly undetectable.
“In the old days the bad guys would have to pull out the existing scanner and put in a new one and you could see a broken seal or new hardware and it would look different. Now they have insert scanners that are half the thickness of a dime they can put into the regular scanning slot and you don’t even see it,” explained Quinnipiac University cyber security and technology expert Frederick Scholl.
Some scanners get inserted inside the swipe slot, while others are a full overlay of the buttons.
“All these people are part of gangs so you are not necessarily going to see anything going wrong on your credit card. Maybe they will sell your card number to another gang a month later,” said Scholl.
There are a few ways people can make sure they don’t become the victim of a skimmer scanner. They can use contactless payment in their phone’s digital wallet, the express checkout on the Big Y app or cold hard cash.
“I pay cash. I’ve just always paid cash,” said Helen Henkel of Southington. “People are really getting crafty and they need to go out and get a job instead of taking money from people who work hard for it.”
All the store surveillance video and the scanners themselves were turned over to local police as evidence. They will be conducting a full investigation.
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Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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