Skimmers steal $2m from Maccas customers
19:03 AEST Wed Oct 14 2009
WA police are investigating a credit card skimming scam at McDonald's outlets in Perth.
More than $2.5 million has been stolen from 3,500 bank accounts in a credit card skimming scam at McDonald's outlets in Perth, WA police say.
Major fraud squad detective senior sergeant Don Heise said inquiries by police had confirmed EFTPOS devices had been compromised.
Card information and PIN details from debit and visa cards had been obtained in the fraud, Det Heise said.
"Police are continuing to work closely with numerous financial institutions and McDonald's, with McDonald's being the only EFTPOS sale devices affected at this time," he said.
Det Heise said more than $2.5 million had been stolen from at least 3,500 cards.
"Information supports that thousands of customers' cards are at risk," Det Hiese said.
The alleged scam started on October 5, with bank customers reporting their accounts had been drained by overseas withdrawals and payments they had not made.
Police have urged people to regularly change their pin number, check their bank statements and report any questionable transactions to their bank or financial institution.
Police say they cannot reveal the nature of the skimming devices being used in the scam due to operational concerns.
The number of McDonald's stores targeted and their location have also not been released.
theifs take my money and overdraft on my account. I lose the overdraft and wont know anything about my lost money for some time yet.... they must work from the biggest accounts down 
