Urgent warning over new self-checkout scam at popular store – it went completely unnoticed by customers

Police have been forced to issue an urgent warning after discovering a worrying new self-checkout scam.

The scammers had placed a card skimming device – disguised as a bulletin board – in the self-serve aisle of a Kroger supermarket in Atlanta, Georgia.

After reviewing the CCTV footage, detectives who were alerted to the device on June 6 discovered it had been placed there FOUR days earlier by two men.

Card skimmers, often hidden by fraudsters at ATMs and ticket machines, steal information such as card numbers and pins from credit and debit cards.

With that information, they can create counterfeit cards or use the information for online purchases without the owner’s permission.

Images of the individuals were released last week, along with a $2,000 reward.

The trick was discovered by a store employee who immediately contacted the Atlanta Police Department.

Officers were able to identify two suspects based on security footage where “the fraudulent device was placed in the self-checkout on June 2, 2024.”

Disturbingly, the device was on the card reader for four days before it was noticed. It is not yet clear how many customers are affected.

According to Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta, images of the individuals were released last week in addition to a $2,000 reward for information leading to their arrest.

“Investigators with the Atlanta Police Department Fraud Unit are asking for the public’s assistance in providing information regarding the suspects seen in the attached photos,” Crime Stoppers wrote in a social media post.

The images released show two men, both wearing white T-shirts and caps, apparently shopping in the store.

One carries a bouquet of flowers while the other stands slightly behind him and pushes a shopping cart.

‘So their fraudulent PIN went unnoticed for 4 days? Yikes’ only concerned customer wrote about the incident on Reddit.

Others expressed concern that they might not be able to identify a card skimmer from a legitimate payment terminal.

Self-checkouts are controversial among Americans. Many are reluctant to use them or fear they will take jobs away from supermarket workers.

They have also caused problems for retailers, who were keen to roll them out as a cost-saving measure. But bosses have found this has led to an increase in shoplifting as customers fail to scan all items.

As a result, major chains like Walmart, Target and Dollar General are eliminating self-checkouts or changing the rules around their use.

For example, Dollar General has discontinued the use of self-checkouts in 12,000 of its stores, leaving them in only a handful of stores.

This concerns the supermarket chain, which operates 2,750 stores in 35 states, after it came under fire last week for stealing promotional photos from a family-owned peach business.

The Peach Truck, which has been operating in Georgia for 12 years, discovered earlier this month that Kroger had not only announced its own service to sell Georgia peaches from brightly colored trucks, but that it had also used images from his company’s Instagram.

Kroger came under fire for stealing promotional photos from a family-owned peach business

The owner of the Peach Truck posted a video about the incident on TikTok, where it received more than a million views.

Kroger responded to the backlash by removing the offending photos and apologizing to The Peach Truck.

Kroger recently exceeded Wall Street’s revenue and profit expectations in its latest earnings report.

The chain has also seen a 5.1 percent increase in customer visits to its stores.