$50 million fleeced Wave of EFTPOS attacks credit and debit cards swiped
POLICE admit Australia is in the grip of its biggest ever EFTPOS skimming crime wave.
An unprecedented attack by an international criminal gang on retailers' EFTPOS machines has seen $50 million fleeced from hard working Australians.
The wave of attacks on EFTPOS machines in NSW was yesterday described by NSW fraud squad head Detective Superintendent Colin Dyson as "the biggest I've seen".
Fast-food, convenience and specialist clothing stores are bearing the brunt of the crime. McDonald's is among the outlets whose EFTPOS machines have been targeted.
People commonly swipe both credit and debit cards through the in-store machines to pay for goods and services at these outlets.
Supt Dyson said the criminal activity was "ongoing" and based in suburban Sydney and NSW coastal cities.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. Related CoverageBig whopper: A costly burger End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. He said the NSW Police Strike Force Wigg had identified "50 persons of interest" from a criminal gang based "in a particular part of Asia". Many are currently outside Australia.
To date, six people have been arrested in NSW in relation to the scam, Supt Dyson said.
However, he said: "This is an international group, it's a very large group.
"The members of that group arrive in Sydney and other capital cities in Australia, they travel between capital cities, commit these offences and leave the country again."
"Each has their own roles and functions to play. There are organisers that are in the country from time to time and then go back overseas."
He urged people to change credit and debit card PINs to avoid the possibility of having their account balances wiped out, as it was likely more cases would be identified.
"There is sometimes a lag between PINs being compromised and used," he said.
"If someone whose details are skimmed changes their PIN quickly, the data can be useless to the criminal."
It is the first time EFTPOS machines have been the target of concentrated criminal activity in Australia.
NSW Police say every Australian capital city and some regional centres have been hit by the scam, believed to involve teams of criminals from the sub continent.
While bank ATMs have long been targeted by gangs, the smaller in-shop EFTPOS devices have avoided being compromised. Legitimate versions of retailers' EFTPOS PIN pads were stolen, in some case through armed robberies, and replaced with compromised machines.
Last year, legitimate EFTPOS devices at McDonald's outlets across Perth were replaced with compromised card-skimming versions, with 3500 customers cheated of $4.5 million.
