Credit Card Scam in NE

[Royle9]

Looks like the Shell Gas Bar on 32nd avenue in between the Wendy's and McDonalds just east of barlow is skimming Credit cards.

Father purchased gas on Friday the 9th, went inside to pay as "pay at the pump wasn't working" and had to swipe his CC because the "chip program isn't installed". After checking his bank statement online today, there was 4 single $100 dollar transactions all within a 5 minute period took place on Saturday morning.

All appropriate persons have been contacted, but figured I'd give people the heads up. Probably should have noticed something wasn't right after both of the more secure ways to pay were conveniently not working

[CMW403]

Originally posted by Royle9
Looks like the Shell Gas Bar on 32nd avenue in between the Wendy's and McDonalds just east of barlow is skimming Credit cards.

Father purchased gas on Friday the 9th, went inside to pay as "pay at the pump wasn't working" and had to swipe his CC because the "chip program isn't installed". After checking his bank statement online today, there was 4 single $100 dollar transactions all within a 5 minute period took place on Saturday morning.

All appropriate persons have been contacted, but figured I'd give people the heads up. Probably should have noticed something wasn't right after both of the more secure ways to pay were conveniently not working

im not saying the owners of the store DIDN'T do it, but just so you know its usually unknown to the owner/workers of the establishment that a skimmer has been installed on one of their machines.

i hope people aren't stupid enough to install skimmers on their own machines... i would think the employees would be the first suspects.

[The Wanderer]

Good day,

I would be willing to wager the 4 x $100 are 4 attempted pay at the pump transactions.

Whenever pay at the pump is attempted, the credit card is preauthorised for $100 (at Shell other retailers may have different amounts). Shell Canada will remove the preauthorisation at midnight or midnight the next day, depending on when the transaction was attempted. Depending on the finacial institution your credit card is associated to will determine when the preauthorisation will be removed.

[TeHashu]

I know a few people that used to do that. They would get your CC copied, copy the info on a different card and use it to buy gas/cigarrettes.



Want my advice ? Dont use your CC at ANY gas station without the pin, if you do, HIDE the pin with your hand ( i know some people do it but most don't ) and same goes for debit cards...

In the NE, I would only buy gas with cash.

[masoncgy]

^ Yeah, that's what I was thinking too, though the OP never mentioned whether or not the 'pay at the pump' was attempted by his father or not.

If he tried it out, then this conclusion makes sense. If he just went inside to pay after pumping without trying to pay outside first, then I would be suspicious.

[JMaj7]

Originally posted by The Wanderer
Good day,

I would be willing to wager the 4 x $100 are 4 attempted pay at the pump transactions.

Whenever pay at the pump is attempted, the credit card is preauthorised for $100 (at Shell other retailers may have different amounts). Shell Canada will remove the preauthorisation at midnight or midnight the next day, depending on when the transaction was attempted. Depending on the finacial institution your credit card is associated to will determine when the preauthorisation will be removed.

This.

[Royle9]

My apologies, I should have been more clear. The pay at the pump was in fact never attempted, a taped msg (I'm assuming from the clerk) was on the pump indicating the service was down.

No pin was ever entered into the debit machine. Money was never withdrawn from any bank machine, this was a CC purchase @ the till itself.

Police are looking into it I believe.

[TeHashu]

If the clerk swiped your dads CC on the top of the computer keyboard (instead of the device people use for putting in their pins ), the illegal device that records your dads CC info might have been placed besides the legal one, making it possible for the clerk to steal your dads CC info as well as make the gas transaction he was there for in a SINGLE swipe.

I've seen this happen.

[mwmhong]

Originally posted by The Wanderer
Good day,

I would be willing to wager the 4 x $100 are 4 attempted pay at the pump transactions.

Whenever pay at the pump is attempted, the credit card is preauthorised for $100 (at Shell other retailers may have different amounts). Shell Canada will remove the preauthorisation at midnight or midnight the next day, depending on when the transaction was attempted. Depending on the finacial institution your credit card is associated to will determine when the preauthorisation will be removed.

Why would credit card pre-authorizations show up as a CHARGE on the cardholder statement? Wouldn't it have to be a preauthorization completion (equivalent to a purchase) to show up?

I could speculate that the clerk at the till is trying to 'balance' his books and make it look like it is due to pre-auth?

Both preauthorizations/subsequent pre-auth completions and (more direct) purchases could be keyed or swiped, depending on how the Point-of-Sale terminal is set up.

[ByTeMe]

That place always looked shady to me.

[The Wanderer]

Originally posted by mwmhong


Why would credit card pre-authorizations show up as a CHARGE on the cardholder statement? Wouldn't it have to be a preauthorization completion (equivalent to a purchase) to show up?

I could speculate that the clerk at the till is trying to 'balance' his books and make it look like it is due to pre-auth?

Both preauthorizations/subsequent pre-auth completions and (more direct) purchases could be keyed or swiped, depending on how the Point-of-Sale terminal is set up.

Why? I'm not sure

I just know that preauthorisations can show up on online banking and some financial institution reps might say they are charges when they are only preauths.

the $100 charge always raises a red flag for me suggesting it be a preauthorisation. In this case (based on what the OP has stated in his second post) it would not be a preauth as pay at the pump was never attempted.

Where these $100 charges also done at the Shell location or at other areas? What approxiamate time fo day where they done at?

[mwmhong]

Originally posted by The Wanderer

Where these $100 charges also done at the Shell location or at other areas? What approxiamate time fo day where they done at?

That is a VERY good question.
Quickly reading through, I had assumed it was all at the Shell

I just called a random Shell station, and it seems a clerk can manually punch in the card number and charge (due to tech difficulties) and that certain supervisory parties do NOT want staff keying in the card numbers by hand (for obvious control reasons). CC terminals can allow for the tracking of whether a purchase/pre-auth/pre-auth completion were done by keying or card swipe.

[The Wanderer]

Originally posted by mwmhong


That is a VERY good question.
Quickly reading through, I had assumed it was all at the Shell

I just called a random Shell station, and it seems a clerk can manually punch in the card number and charge (due to tech difficulties) and that certain supervisory parties do NOT want staff keying in the card numbers by hand (for obvious control reasons). CC terminals can allow for the tracking of whether a purchase/pre-auth/pre-auth completion were done by keying or card swipe.

I had also asumed it was done at Shell by the original read. I am not 100% sure that is what the OP means any more (unless I am wrong on the location involved).

You are correct there are ways to tell if a transation is purchase/preauth/preauth completion/manual entry/or swipe.

[FivE.SeveN]

FYI, that shell doesn't even have pay at the pump.

You actually have to go inside. I fill up there once a week

[Integra10]

Originally posted by Royle9
Looks like the Shell Gas Bar on 32nd avenue in between the Wendy's and McDonalds just east of barlow is skimming Credit cards.

Father purchased gas on Friday the 9th, went inside to pay as "pay at the pump wasn't working" and had to swipe his CC because the "chip program isn't installed". After checking his bank statement online today, there was 4 single $100 dollar transactions all within a 5 minute period took place on Saturday morning.

All appropriate persons have been contacted, but figured I'd give people the heads up. Probably should have noticed something wasn't right after both of the more secure ways to pay were conveniently not working

If you want to get in the business send me a pm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXX6c...eature=related

I got lots of stuff for sale

[adidas]

Originally posted by TeHashu

In the NE, I would only buy gas with cash.

I buy gas with cash in the NE all the time and i still feel like im getting scammed.

[PulsePro]

Originally posted by Integra10


If you want to get in the business send me a pm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXX6c...eature=related

I got lots of stuff for sale

lol dun be a noob

[Royle9]

Originally posted by FivE.SeveN
FYI, that shell doesn't even have pay at the pump.

You actually have to go inside. I fill up there once a week

I was pretty sure that was the case myself, its been a while since I've filled up there though. Luckily I paid cash.

But to be more specific, YES all transactions were done from the same Shell location. I haven't heard on an update from the police although I'm sure we will never hear back from them, but I think its safe to say they manually tendered these transactions for personal gain.

[Integra10]

Originally posted by Integra10


If you want to get in the business send me a pm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXX6c...eature=related

I got lots of stuff for sale

Have to reply to make it apparent for people like Nonlinear. The above post was a joke and I in no way condone or sell card skimming equipment.

[The Wanderer]

Originally posted by Royle9


I was pretty sure that was the case myself, its been a while since I've filled up there though. Luckily I paid cash.

But to be more specific, YES all transactions were done from the same Shell location. I haven't heard on an update from the police although I'm sure we will never hear back from them, but I think its safe to say they manually tendered these transactions for personal gain.

Good day,

Based on the information you have provided us (4 transactions done on July 9th of $100 at the Shell location 3312 - 26 STREET NE), I believe some of the information is incorrect.

Please let me know if I have missread any of the infomation.