A debit card scammer has stolen thousands of dollars from businesses in the heavily Jewish Midwood section of Brooklyn.
Midwood is being targeted by the crafty thief who has been very successful at utilizing a scam taking advantage of vulnerabilities in credit card machines to steal thousands of dollars from at least two local businesses, according to Shomrim.
The conman pretends to have forgotten his debit card and claims not to have any cash. Then he asks the proprietor to let him type in his debit card number directly into the shop”s card terminal. He proceeds to instruct the machine to issue a refund to the debit number. In one instance, he stole $3,000 from a grocery store. And in another, $1,000 from a restaurant, Hamodia reported.
In the case of the grocery store, the scammer, described by Shomrim as a tall African American man in his 30s, told the store his card was declined, left the two items he was pretending to purchase, and fled the store after keying in the refund.

He also took the receipts in both instances, alleging he needed them “for his records.”
It was only hours later that the managers at both stores noticed that their accounts had been charged for thousands of dollars. Both called Shomrim and the NYPD.
An investigation by the NYPD and Shomrim is ongoing, the outlet reported.
According to Shomrim, other shops may also have been scammed.
The suspect was likely using a stolen debit card number. However, the grocery store was able to work with authorities to have the $3,000 charge reversed.