Thursday, June 3, 2010

McDonalds employee skims credit cards in drive through

BOSSIER CITY, LA (KSLA) –Imagine paying for a quarter- pounder with cheese meal with your credit card, then becoming a victim of identity theft.

Bossier City investigators said it happened at this McDonalds on Airline Drive, with the use of an electronic device called a skimmer.

"And the device reads the information on the tape on the credit card, and stores it. That is everything from the person's name, account number, and other information," said Mark Natale with the Bossier City Police Department.

Police arrested Sankeyno Rakeem Taylor after the credit card company noticed suspicious activity on it's customers credit cards for several weeks.

"He was selling the information to some individuals in Texas," said Natale.

The restaurant's owners reportedly told police immediately, and cooperated with the investigation.

Taylor has been charged with ten counts of skimming, but there could be more.

"Potentially there could be a few hundred people who may have had their information compromised," said Natale.

Bossier City Police say the skimming was happening in this drive- through at the McDonalds on Airline drive. When I called McDonalds to see what they plan to do in the future to keep this from happening again, the person who identified herself as the manager hung up on me.

When confronted inside the restaurant, the woman identifying herself as the manager denied ever talking to me, and said she had no comment when asked what steps they were taking to ensure the incident wouldn't happen again in the future.

"Certainly that would be up to the restaurant to make up those kinds of guidelines but first and foremost there are things a consumer can do," said Natale.

Those things include: Checking your statement often. Also, many banks offer fraud alerts, sign up for them. And if you see your card swiped twice, don't be embarrassed to ask why.

Bossier City Police say if you've used your debit card at the McDonalds in the 1900 block of Airline Drive, then you should monitor your account very closely, and report any suspicious activity to your bank, and police.

Read the official article HERE

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