A ST George Bank customer and a Greater Building Society customer are the latest to be caught up in an international credit card scam.
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Orange resident Ros Davidson, who has accounts with St George Bank, was targeted by fraudsters in Italy who emptied her Visa Debit account late last week.
Her bank confirmed the illegal transaction was linked to an investigation by the Australian Federal Police into illegally captured data from an EFTPOS machine at a business in Orange.
An Orange man, who did not wish to be named, was contacted by the Greater Building Society’s head office earlier this week with a query on a purchase in the United States.
“My wife told them I was at work and definitely not in America, so they said they would cancel my card and issue me with a new one,” he said.
The Central Western Daily contacted the Orange branch of the Greater Building Society but our call was not returned, so it is not known if this illegal transaction is linked to the existing EFTPOS sting.
Ms Davidson said the fraudsters emptied her account with one transaction.
“They just took it all out in one go,” she said.
“I didn’t realise until I was contacted by St George.
“They sent me a text message asking me to contact them.
“Apparently it was discovered by the bank when they (fraudsters) tried to get into my account again.”
Ms Davidson said she relied on her Visa Debit card to pay all her accounts online.
Australian Federal Police are investigating the illegal use of data captured at an EFTPOS outlet in Orange last year but has not revealed the location of the machine as its investigation is ongoing.
However, businesses are warned to lessen the risk of being compromised by upgrading security systems, as they are responsible for the physical security of their merchant services.
On Wednesday, Orange Credit Union moved to freeze customers’ credit card accounts after some members found their accounts had been tampered with.
The organisation’s Redicard holders were unaffected.
St George Banking Group acting head of media and communications Christina Efthymiades said the bank had recently become aware of a fraud issue in the Orange area that had the potential to impact on some St George customers.
“We are monitoring the situation and have blocked particular types of transactions to prevent fraud on customer accounts,” she said.
Orange bank and credit union customers who have had their accounts frozen must surrender their existing credit card and have a new one issued.
Orange residents are urged to contact their bank branch if they have any concerns about their accounts.