Lori Crouch reports:
A hot spot for gas could be a hot bed of criminal activity. Suffolk police say 16 victims who used a debit card at Murphy USA gas station in the 1200 block of Main Street have come forward since May 27th. All of the victims report that money was stolen from their bank accounts, with some transactions made from as far away as California.
Okay, you’re probably thinking “skimmer,” right? Not so fast…
10 On Your Side first reported the thefts Friday . On Monday, Murphy USA executives flew to Suffolk to see the station for themselves. After a thorough investigation of the pumps and a meeting with police, Director of Communications Jay Staggs said the problem lies elsewhere.
“We didn’t start taking security of our customers’ card security information seriously today. This is something our company is taking seriously all along. So when we were told of these allegations, we wanted to get a team out here to check the dispensers, to check all the equipment at the store to make sure we didn’t believe we had a problem and we’ve done that. We do not believe we have a breach at this time. We found no evidence of a skimmer of any kind. We will continue to work with the police department and any other investigative authority to work with them in anyway possible but we want our customers to know that there information is safe at Murphy USA. We take a lot of pride in bringing the communities we serve the best prices we can on gasoline and we want them to know we take their security very seriously,” said Staggs.
Suffolk police do not know how the bank information is being compromised.
Read more on WAVY.
It is not fair to point to one gas station yet. The point of breach is as yet unknown. This is almost yellow journalism and could hurt Murphy gas stations.