Victoria police investigating after credit card fraud steals thousands from local businesses

Victoria police are warning businesses after a recent string of credit card fraud incidents, which they believe cost multiple businesses over $50,000 in combined losses.

Police said Friday that the transactions were conducted by a suspect or suspects manually entering stolen or fraudulent credit card numbers into the businesses’ point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

Owners and employees are being asked to monitor their terminals and make sure people are either using them to enter their PINs or using the tap feature on their cards.

“Businesses should ensure customers…are not accessing administrative menus or manually entering credit card numbers,” the Victoria Police Department’s Crime Reduction Unit said in a statement.

“If somebody does enter a card manually, it will reflect the card entry method on the receipt as ‘manual.'”

Anyone who witnesses someone trying to make a purchase by manually entering a credit card number is urged to cancel the transaction and contact police.

Those who may know who is responsible can either call the Victoria Police Department or make an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers.