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.