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Two Windsor County grocery stores have been victimized by scammers entering someone else’s credit card number and walking away with hundreds of dollars of cigarettes.
On December 19, State Police received a call from Bethel Central Market about a possible credit card scam that had just occurred at the store. The owner of the store said this same incident occurred at his Rochester store the day prior.
Three males came into the store and purchased a large amount of cigarettes. They made small purchases of about $200 worth of cigarettes approximately 3-4 times. Their method of purchase was tap to pay with their phones, but claimed the phone was not working and manually entered the credit card number.
After a few weeks, the purchases are disputed by the actual card owner and the transaction is cancelled by the credit card company. This leaves the owner of the store with lost revenue. The males involved in this scam had been operating a U-Haul van in the St. Albans area the night of 12/18/24.
Vermont State Police advise to use caution when these types of transactions occur. Any store owner who believes they have been a victim of this scam, please contact Trooper Geno at the Royalton Barracks 802-234-9933.
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Categories: Public Safety
Demand cash only on these purchases.
Vermonters- I’m from out of state and have seen this a number of times now. Please, for the love of god, if you are a clerk, or are in line at a convenience store and somebody checking out in line pulls out a little notepad with “their” credit card numbers written down to enter them manually, IT IS FRAUD. Call that person out ON THE SPOT IMMEDIATELY. I saw this occurring at the Jolly Mobil on Shelburne rd recently and after suggesting the perp try “paying with his own money”, some lady in a rainbow knit Skida hat (who I’m sure was well intentioned) called me “racist”.
When someone calls you “racist” for pointing out an obvious crime or fraud, it is probably NOT well intentioned, unless the intention is for them to virtue signal and publicly demonstrate their Trump Derangement Syndrome. Point out to them that their Skida hat is made from fossil-based carbon, and they will cower in shame.
Credit cards have features to prevent such fraud, and it is the intention that they be used and not circumvented by manual entry of the data.