From a pained expression to a look of relief, All Fresh Supermarket Store Manager Cristina Torres shared a sense of extreme gratitude Tuesday afternoon when a local electronics company donated a device to detect skimming devices on point-of-sale machines.
Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan, Bristol Borough Police Chief Joe Moors along with Bristol-based Allied Electronics, Inc presented the device and demonstrated how the SkimBuster works.
The donation comes on the heels of All Fresh and its customers being victimized by would-be thieves in June and August. Police arrested Ionut Oprea, 38, of Florida at the All Fresh Supermarket on August 20.
“We have one suspect who is in custody and that individual will have a preliminary hearing the first week of October,” said Khan.
A second suspect, according to police, remains at large.
The device is a specialized handheld detection tool designed to identify deep-insert and overlay skimmers on payment terminals in seconds without requiring machinery teardown or store downtime, said Steve Gilson, Allied Electronics product manager.
“Just swiping it, inserting it an LED indicator returns saying that everything looks good with the card reader that was found or, if it turns red, it detects that there was a problem inside that machine,” Gilson said.
Steve Gilson, of Allied Electronics demonstrates how the SkimBuster works at an All Fresh POS Terminal. Credit: Jeff Bohen, Lower Bucks Source
As the only supermarket in Bristol, All Fresh has a community feel. Torres said the skimming incidents violated that sense of community, even causing suspicion among shoppers.
“We can only hope that we’ll gain their trust again. Hopefully you know, with the help of everyone here, we can gain their trust back,” Torres said.
This really hurt us, she said, but thanks to DA Khan, the police, and Allied Electronics, and because of the donation, we can now move on and hope it never happens again.
Credit: Lower Bucks Hospital
It remains unclear how many EBT accounts were impacted and if there were other locations targeted by the suspects.
Several All Fresh customers, who asked not to be identified, told Lower Bucks Source their SNAP benefits were stolen when the June incident occurred.
Moors said the joint investigation remains open and active at this time.
“The donation of the SkimBuster device will provide All Fresh with an additional tool to help detect skimming devices and protect their customers from becoming victims.”
Moors did say it is likely the police department will purchase a SkimBuster for investigational purposes should the need arise. The cost of the device comes in at the nominal cost of $450.
Bristol Borough Chief of Police Joe Moors and Bucks County District Attorney Joh Khan update the media on the EBT skimming investigation.
Credit: Jeff Bohen Lower Bucks Source