More People Getting Scammed At Supermarkets From Credit Card Skimmers

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- More people are getting scammed at the supermarket as their debit card information is getting stolen at the checkout line.

CBS2's Ali Bauman reported card reader covers have been discovered at supermarkets around Manhattan, including at a Gristedes in the West Village in March.

When CBS2 first reported the story last month, there were 23 cases of card reader scams, and now that number has more than doubled.

"It happened to many people that I know actually. It's pretty common," Tania Mailangky said.

Amanda Archuleta said, "Someone in Europe was using my credit card when I had the credit card in my wallet, so they somehow got the information on it."

As technology for stealing debit and credit card information advances, instead of trying to keep up, people's best bet may be to pay attention to their financial statements.

"Be very aware of your bank statements, look for anything, any small unusual charge," Nancy Schindler, associate commissioner for Consumer Affairs, said. "Get your credit report yearly to make sure your credit score is accurate."

Schindler said cards with chips flag fraud better than those with magnetic strips.

"These chips create a unique code for every purchase that you make, so if someone is skimming your information and that unique code is appearing once, twice, three times, it can flag those transactions as being fraud," Beth Kitchener, Mastercard vice president, said.

Shoppers are advised to report card readers that look like they've been tampered with.