A new variety of fraud is underway in Victoria, with a trio of men entering retail outlets in shopping centers, two of them distracting the sales clerk, and the third switching the shop’s EFTPOS machine for one of his own.

Shopping centers hit include Dandenong, Waverley Gardens, Moorabbin, Chadstone and Brandon Park. More than nine of the rigged machines have been found, and credit card accounts hit by the fraud are being used for international shopping sprees in the U.K., Canada, and Europe.

Adam Bell, detective Sen-Constable in Glen Waverley, said the machines were stolen between Tuesday, 19 January, and Saturday, 30 January. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the credit card details were being downloaded from the stolen machines, or skimmed from the rigged ones, or both.

A final tally on the fraud is not yet available, although Sen-Constable Bell did say that the banks issuing the compromised credit cards were making good on the losses.

The men responsible are believed to be Indian or Pakistani, in their late twenties or early thirties. According to Sen-Constable Bell, they work as a team, with one or two of them distracting the clerks and the others switching out the machines.

Russell Zimmerman, the executive director of the Australian Retailers Association, has instructed member stores to mark their EFTPOS machines in some manner and monitor them on a regular basis.

“We are very aware and are telling our merchants to be vigilant,” Mr. Zimmerman said. “It becomes very difficult when a machine has been compromised in a store and you don’t know.”

Source: http://dandenong-leader.whereilive.com.au