BETHEL — Vermont State Police are investigating a potential credit card scam reported by the owner of Bethel Central Market after a suspicious transaction occurred on Dec. 19 at approximately 3:45 p.m.
The store owner notified authorities that three men entered the market and purchased large quantities of cigarettes multiple times, each purchase around $200, using a tap-to-pay feature on their phones.
When the feature appeared not to work, they manually entered a credit card number instead.
A similar incident took place the previous day, Dec. 18, at around 5 p.m. at the owner’s second store, Skip Mart in Rochester.
The fraudulent activities came to light weeks later when the actual card owners disputed the charges, leading to transaction cancellations by the credit card company and a significant loss of revenue for the store owner.
According to the police report, the suspects have been using a U-Haul van and were last seen in the St. Albans area on the night of Dec. 18.
State Police urge business owners to exercise caution with manual credit card transactions and tap-to-pay methods that fail and subsequently require manual entry.
Any merchants who suspect they’ve been targeted by this scam should immediately contact Trooper Geno at the Royalton Barracks at 802-234-9933.
