HUNDREDS of shoppers could be at risk of identity theft after a credit card skimmer was found at a grocery store's self-checkout, police have warned.
Officials are still searching for the fraudsters who left the device at Sendik's in Washington County, Wisconsin, on Saturday.
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Credit card skimmers are devices designed to look like a store's point-of-sale where shoppers would normally tender payment.
Scammers will strategically place the device so shoppers will insert their cards and give them their payment information.
Sometimes, the criminal will return to collect the data while others can obtain the information remotely.
Police in Germantown, about a 30-minute drive from Milwaukee, believe that two men worked together to install a skimmer at the Wisconsin-based supermarket.
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In a statement, officials said they believed the device had been in place for two days before they found it.
Surveillance footage captured a man in a dark gray jacket creating a diversion with employees so another in a blue jacket and black hat could set up the skimmer while making a purchase.
Officials said the men sounded like they had Eastern European accents that could possibly be Russian.
After making the discovery, police sent out an urgent warning to shoppers to look out for skimmers, as devices will often be set up at multiple locations by the same criminals.
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Some credit card skimmers can be easily identifiable to shoppers who take an extra second to analyze their surroundings as they are bulky and strange.
Others can be indistinguishable from a regular POS, or just a small addition to the existing device.
Shoppers are advised to notify an employee if any of the buttons are off-center or difficult to press, TIME magazine reported.
It's also important to see if an extension has left the stripe reader at a strange angle before swiping your card.
And of course, customers can always examine other kiosks at the checkout area to see how theirs compares.
Shoppers can determine whether their card was skimmed by closely monitoring bank statements and credit card activity.
Some holders receive text alerts every time their card is used for a purchase to monitor fraudulent activity.
It's recommended that shoppers are extra careful with debit cards, as any cash that's removed from the account can likely never be returned.
The credit card fraud comes as one Chase customer watched $5,000 disappear from their account while they sat at home with their husband.
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Another credit card holder has claimed his account was wiped of more than $236,000 after his identity was stolen.
And a different customer was victimized by fraudsters after they received a call stating that a Walmart charge was put in their account.
