Foster City Lucky Store Hit in Massive 'Skimming' Scam

The Save Mart Supermarket chain that operates Lucky and Save Mart
stores said credit and debit card readers at self-checkout lanes in 20 Bay
Area stores have been tampered with.

Steps were immediately taken to remove the tampered card readers
in the affected stores, the company said in a news release.          

"We are not aware, nor have we been notified of any reports that
customer accounts were compromised," the company said in a release.

The affected Lucky stores are in Pinole, Milpitas, Mountain View,
Redwood City, El Cerrito, Daley City, Foster City, San Carlos, Millbrae,
Alameda, and Sunnyvale.

The suspected card skimming also was reported at a Save Mart store
in Watsonville.          

Alicia Rockwell, the company's director of public affairs, said a
couple of Lucky store employees reported incidents at the Lucky store in
Petaluma over the weekend, but the self-checkout readers and those at
checkouts staffed by employees were clean.         

The skimming devices that are installed in the card machines
capture credit card numbers and debit card pin numbers. Identity thieves then
make transactions on those cards.

The company first learned about the problem around Nov. 11 and
sent out a Consumer Advisory on Nov. 23, Rockwell said.          

The compromised machines were found in the 21 stores when all 233
stores in Northern California and Northern Nevada were checked, Rockwell
said.          

Stephen Ackerman, chief financial officer of Save Mart, said today
the company expects to learn this week the starting and ending dates of the
credit and debit card reader tampering.          

The company has had the full support of local, state and federal
authorities, financial institutions and card processors, Ackerman said.          

"At this time, we strongly recommend that anyone who used our
self-check terminals in the affected stores during the months of October and
November consider closing their bank account and opening a new one," Ackerman said.          

Authorities say the thefts are most likely to occur over the
weekend when most financial institutions are closed or have limited hours.         

Customers with compromised account statements should contact the
Lucky Customer Support Center at (800) 692-5710.          

Save Mart operates 233 stores in Northern California and Northern
Nevada under the Save Mart, S-Mart Foods, Lucky and FoodMaxx banners.

- Bay City News