CHANGE YOUR PIN#

Baltimore, MD - Feb. 8, 2023:

Dear Customers,

As you may have read on Baltimore Jewish Life there has been a tremendous increase in EBT (SNAP) fraud in recent months across the country.

Over the past few weeks some of our customers contacted us about fraud on their cards. We advised them to contact EBT/SNAP as well as the police, but we did not have any other solutions, nor did we know if it had anything to do with Seven Mile. In the past couple of days, Baltimore County Police came to our store after receiving a number of these reports. They asked us if they can check our credit card machines for a “skimmer”. A skimmer is a device utilized by thieves to steal credit card information unbeknownst to the customer. These skimmers are very hard to detect to the untrained eye, as they are a very thin cover that slips right over the credit card machines and look exactly like the credit card machine. An experienced thief can slip one on in literally  seconds.  Once the skimmer is on the machine it collects data from swiped cards, transmits it and fraud can begin.

After checking all of our machines, they unfortunately found a skimmer on one of our credit card machines. The skimmer was immediately removed and the police took possession of it. All of the machines have been cleared for use.

Once the police identified the skimmer, they taught our staff how to look out for it so that it does not happen again. We also put other measures in place where we can easily identify if a skimmer is placed in our store, should they try it again. This can and has happened in many other stores across the country, and we are committed to doing everything we can to protect our customers to the best of our ability.

EBT cards are more prone to fraud because they are always swiped and the skimmer reads the swipe. Regular credit cards are usually not swiped, as they typically utilize a chip reader or contactless pay. We therefore urge you in general, to use the chip, contactless pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay or similar apps. It is also advisable to check your credit card and bank statements on a regular basis for any unfamiliar transactions.

If you shopped at Seven Mile in the past few weeks and used EBT, the simple way to protect yourself is to change your PIN. Therefore, we urge you to CHANGE YOUR PIN immediately, and to check your EBT account to see if you were the victim of fraud.

We are also gathering information to submit to law enforcement on the extent of the fraud. If you see you were the victim of fraud, please call EBT (the number should be on the back of your card) and then please call our store between 9AM-5PM at 410.653.2000, press zero and ask the operator to page Yaakov who will take your information.

Seven Mile Market Management