GEORGETOWN, Del. - The Georgetown Police Department recovered a credit card skimming device from the Dollar General store at 432 E. Market Street on Friday, but say the device was installed on June 15.
Virginia Layfield, a Georgetown resident, expressed her shock upon learning about the incident.
"It's terrible. I didn't believe that it was really going to happen and then you hear it on the news. You know, you don't know from one day to the next what can happen in a small area like this," Layfield said.
Skimming devices are used to steal customers' banking information.
The Georgetown Police Department said the discovery was made after a customer alerted the store about fraudulent charges on their card. After that, an employee checked the machines and found a skimming device attached to one of the self-checkout systems, prompting a call to the police.
Police confirmed to CoastTV News that the customer who notified the store had several hundred dollars in unauthorized withdrawals.
"We are reaching out to our partners with the FBI to see if we can do facial recognition, see if it's part of a larger group," said Lt. Matthew Barlow of the Georgetown Police Department. "Oftentimes, when we're talking about fraud of this nature, electronic fraud and things like that may be part of a larger organization, may be something that our partners, the FBI or Secret Service, are already investigating, so we just want to be helpful on that front, obviously take care of our victims here locally as well."
CoastTV News spoke to multiple people who said their card was skimmed by the device. Although they didn't want to appear on camera, one victim said she had $381 taken off her EBT card.
"We want folks to be vigilant if they've been to the Dollar General store and utilized the checkout machine, the credit card machine," Lt. Barlow said. "Make sure you're checking your bank statements and things like that or your credit card statements and whatnot. If there are any charges on there that don't look right, make sure that your bank or your credit card company is aware of those so that they can take care of that.
Police encourage people to report if any device looks unusual, if a device looks like something has been added on to it, or any suspicious activity.
Last week, CoastTV News reported that the Felton Police Department discovered a credit card skimming device at the Dollar General on Ludlow Lane in Felton. However, authorities have not determined if the two incidents are connected.