PSA: Crown Heights EBT Holders, Change Your PIN Immediately
by CrownHeights.info
Following a PSA and article published by CrownHeights.info regarding a rash of EBT fraud targeting the Crown Heights community over the last week, tens of community members have reached out and reported fraudulent charges on their cards as recently as the last 24 hours. This fraud is ongoing and CrownHeights.info advises all EBT holders to change their PIN numbers IMMEDIATELY!
Following an article published by CrownHeights.info Thursday night, the office of Assemblyman Sam Berger reached out, asking to work with the Crown heights community in resolving these skimming attacks once and for all. Berger’s office is presently coordinating with Assemblyman Brian Cunningham‘s office. Cunningham represents a majority of Crown Heights in ALbany.
Sam, the assemblymember for Queens, saw a similar attack on his Jewish constituents and had already begun the process of working with the FBI to track down the source of the attacks. He is also actively working to pass legislation that would protect New Yorkers from such future incidents.
To aid this, Berger’s office has created a form for victims of the EBT skimming attack to fill out that will be passed on to the relevant authorities and help boost the legislation push in Albany. Victims are asked to fill out the form found HERE.
As also previously reported on CrownHeights.info, the large number of EBT thefts being reported over the last week in the Crown Heights Jewish community point to a skimmer which was likely planted in a local store. A thorough check of local EBT accepting terminals has not found any skimming devices, a sign that the device was likely removed and is no longer a threat.
Multiple residents that have been victims of EBT theft have reported that they found a large number of transactions at a small store in Pennsylvania which cleared out their accounts. Some saw hundreds of dollars stolen, others thousands.
Residents are asked to please check their balances and file police reports for any stolen funds. Thefts should also be reported online to the state or by calling the number on the back of the card. You can also file for reimbursement of stolen funds by clicking HERE.
Sarah
Changing your pin is not enough a new card must be ordered.
Many have reported thefts from California to Maine where the cardholder has never been. This is not necessarily because of a skimming device. It is a computer national hacking scheme.
Reader
Which store is this originating from
Phil Landsberg
The PA store is”Paloma Food Market” in Philly.
My fraud occured in Bed-Stuy. 414 Throop Ave Marketplace
Ch resident
Inaccurate information!
Changing pin, won’t do anything. The scammer is somehow getting the information when you swipe the card, including the pin number or somehow able to bypass it altogether.
Its an inside job that needs to be investigated!
Phil Landsberg
skimmer is usually coupled with a pinhole camera which records the pin entry, or a keypad overlay. That dual information allows one to know the PIN to the card based on the corresponding time it has happened. I am one of the victims. Trust me when I tell you it has happened and it is exactly like that. Changing your PIN will indeed thwart it. Obviously getting a new card is best.
Phil Landsberg
The national one appears to be connected to Walmart. Likely Two separate and concurrent issues.
jojo
changing the pin won’t help unless
A. U reported your card stolen and got a new one
B. they find out from which store IN CROWN HEIGHTS the thieves are stealing the card details from, changing the pin will only help if they can’t steal it again