Skimming device found in checkout lane at New Kensington Golden Dawn

A skimming device was found in a checkout lane at the Golden Dawn grocery store in New Kensington on Wednesday, the store’s owners confirmed Thursday.

The store has five checkout lanes. The skimmer was found on register 2, co-owner Gene Tommasi said.

They believe the device — which can capture information from a customer’s payment card — had been there for a day or two, co-owner Jim Faccenda said.

Faccenda said the device was found the day after representatives of the state Inspector General’s Office visited the store. According to Faccenda, they were investigating a person’s concerns that their electronic benefits card had been hacked through a skimmer, but it wasn’t known which of a number of stores it had happened at.

An employee of a company that Golden Dawn uses for its information technology services found the device. It was removed and reported to the state Inspector General’s Office and New Kensington police.

New Kensington police did not respond to requests for comment. A representative of the Inspector General’s Office could not immediately comment on the matter.

Skimming devices have recently been found at stores elsewhere in the Alle-Kiski Valley and across the Pittsburgh region. They include the Community Supermarket in Lower Burrell and Shop ‘n Save stores in Plum, North Huntingdon and Scott Township.

Tomassi said the device at his store looked just like a pin pad and was clamped over the real pin pad at the checkout.

“We know how to see them. We know how to check for them,” he said. “It doesn’t necessarily fit exactly right. You got to know what you’re looking for. We do.”

Faccenda said they were checking their pin pads daily, and will now check them multiple times each day.

“Obviously, there was a breakdown somewhere, unfortunately,” he said. “We’re pretty regimented making sure we check all these pads every single day. Whoever these people are, they are very sophisticated. They know exactly how to do it. Register 2 is a very busy register in our store. For them to be able to do that on a register like that — thank God we were able to get it taken care of quickly.”

Customers who think they might have used that checkout lane during the time in question should monitor their accounts, Faccenda said.