ALERT! Some sort of credit card electronic fraud scanning in STT.

This just happened to my wife and another friend on St Croix. One of the cards was only used at a single location in St Croix. If it was done using a skimmer then we know the location it took place. We could also determine the employee responsible. I'm not sure if we should contact the police or the owner of the location. Maybe some personal reconnaissance. We only figured it out today.

Where do you think the skimmer was installed? I'll go myself to see if a skimmer is in place.

Credit card skimmers that thieves install where you swipe your card to pay at the pump can copy the account data from the magnetic stripe on the back of your card, along with your PIN if you type that in for a debit card transaction. Also often placed on ATM machines.

This is a serious crime. If you think you know who and where, go to the police not the owner. Please advise us here on the board too so we can get the word out.

FOR SURE! Straight to the police.

Yes I know that this happens everywhere but its has been happening here to many of the people I know, seems to become major thing going on here lately.

My daughter used her debit card at The Bistro on STX on Saturday afternoon. She had not used her card for the previous 4 - 5 days. Within two hours of using it at The Bistro, she received a call from the Fraud Prevention Dept at First Bank. Someone in New York had used her card number at Macy's and charged $200. They cut if off after the second usage attempt at another NY store.

Others in the STX community have told me about similar credit card and debit card frauds.

Please beware and tell others. USE CASH where possible.

Thanks.

So now the police should be finding out who at the Bistro is stealing card numbers.

Screw the Police (LOL) A severe beating is more like it.

We had one of our credit cards, a First Bank card, cancelled and reissued last week after someone tried to use a cloned card at a Georgia grocery store (we have not been to the states since Christmas). I guess my take on it is a little different than some of the others expressed here:

1) There is a significant difference in personal liability between credit cards (essentially none for fraud) and debit cards (very little protection). I personally would not own a debit card.

2) I don't think the evidence against the Bistro is very compelling - two hours seems pretty quick to me for someone to steal the info, get the info to somebody else, they then clone a card, give it to somebody else, who then goes to the store and tries to use it. What is their rush? My credit card info could have been stolen months ago but I will never know it until somebody tries to use it and it is flagged by the credit card fraud detection center.

3) The potential for having your credit card info stolen, resulting in the card having to be cancelled, is a good reason to have multiple cards issued by different companies. Particularly if you are traveling off island you should have two cards with you in case something happens to one of them. I know I don't travel with enough cash to cover car rentals, hotel bills, etc. when on vacation.

4) if you have a credit card that has no annual fee, you pay it off in full every month, and it has some type of reward with it, such as cash back on your purchases, and you will not be liable for any fraudulent charges if they ever occur, then I have a hard time seeing the disadvantage of using a credit card for most purchases.

Thanks.

So now the police should be finding out who at the Bistro is stealing card numbers.

They will get right on that I'm sure.

I'm not placing the blame on The Bistro per se, just informing the board of the facts of the situation. True that the card data could have been gathered some time ago elsewhere.

As far as how fast they can create a cloned card, I'd say they can produce them in a few minutes. They would have the card blanks already printed, they just need to emboss the stolen name and credit card number, which would take a few minutes, then swipe it through the encoder and you're good to go.

I'm sorry to add to the rumor mill, but when I showed this post to the spouse the reply was, "Have they been to the Bistro?" Evidently several of our friends got together and deduced that the Bistro is the only place to which they had all been just before the fraudulent charges.
Its not a condemnation of the restaurant- it could be an individual sitting at a table who has a reader in their pocket. Cards don't have to be swiped if they have the RFID chips, just nearby.

The internet chat rumor mill gathers more hyperbole in five minutes than the alleged "swipe" at The Bistro took to show up two hours later on a stateside purchase. Has anyone who thinks any particular USVI outlet is the root of their particular problem thought to contact the business owners?

This hits home with me very hard and irks me no end. Many years ago my restaurant was the scene of an armed robbery during which one of my regular, wonderful patrons was shot and killed. It was a horrifying experience to deal with but infinitely worse was the ensuing rumor-mongering, the extent of which an outsider could only begin to imagine. The ugly rumors raised their ugly heads for years afterwards, passed on down the line and magnified in the process. Embellishments and lies grew faster and more furiously than mold in a dank space after torrential rain and, up until I closed my place in 2011 I still read and heard about the utter drivel being passed around - and from people who'd never set foot in my place and weren't even on island when it happened.

I sent Clint an email to eat@thebistrovi.com alerting him of the situation and included a link to the forum so he'd know what we were talking about.

I sent Clint an email to eat@thebistrovi.com alerting him of the situation and included a link to the forum so he'd know what we were talking about.

Good t'ing!

just an fyi, the op stated it had happened in stt. so it might not be any one that works at the bistro.

just an fyi, the op stated it had happened in stt. so it might not be any one that works at the bistro.

If you follow the short thread you'll see that it segued into similar incidents on STX and thus the Bistro was named.

correct, i did forget that part

Given the fact that its happened on both STT and STX, and purchases are being made at different locations in different states, it is HIGHLY unlikely a small group of people, or a single store is to blame. What is likely happening is someone is accessing 3rd party data and selling it stateside. The Bistro etc have nothing to do with this.

I agree with Don. I keep hearing people here on St Thomas talking about it and they have been all over the place.

USAA called us last night asking if we were in FL. 9 fraudulent charges were made to one of our credit cards at Winn Dixie, Publix and various gas stations. Buy a blocking wallet on Amazon, or heard you can wrap your cards in foil as well. Cash for now.

I don't need a blocking wallet since no one can scan any of my cards.

Regarding the quickness of these people......

My friend tried to use his credit card at a bank ATM, for cash, in Barcelona on a Sunday....I was with him......he couldn't get the ATM to work and his card never came back out of the machine. We immediately walked back to our hotel and he telephoned the credit card company (maybe 15-20 minutes) after loosing the card. Within that time (just 15-20 minutes), two charges were made for $400 each at a jewelry store. So they're pretty quick.......

The bank was closed......yes, apparently someone at the bank was involved.....

Well, can't they scan it when you take it out to use so what good does a blocking wallet or tin foil actually. I rarely use credit cards as I prefer to write checks and may carry only 1 card for emergencies or places like procedural that don't accept checks.

Cruzanironhow come yours can't be scanned?

Well, can't they scan it when you take it out to use so what good does a blocking wallet or tin foil actually. I rarely use credit cards as I prefer to write checks and may carry only 1 card for emergencies or places like procedural that don't accept checks.

Cruzanironhow come yours can't be scanned?

Only cards with RFID chips can be scanned.

How can you tell of your card has that type of chip?
Thx.