Walmart 'needs to do a better job' watching out for its customers - a scam in store left me with no way to buy groceries

A SCAM at a local Walmart has left shoppers frustrated and begging for the retailer to do better.

A skimmer is a device fraudsters use on ATMs or gas pumps to collect data from credit and debit cards.

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This time, a Walmart location in Durant, Oklahoma has been targeted.

"Need to do a better job, watching out for their customers," Sherry Sells, a Snap EBT card holder told KXII.

An employee noticed a skimmer device on one of the self-checkout registers last month.

At the time of writing, five victims have come forward.

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"Stating that their card information was harvested and used in other cities, primarily around the metroplex in Texas," said Durant Sergeant Nick Spencer.

All of the victims have been Snap EBT users, said Spencer but it's not believed that they were the specific target but rather customers who swiped their cards instead of using a chip or tapping with Apple Pay.

Spencer added that such methods "enables the suspects to duplicate their card and transfer the money to the new card that they’ve made."

The Oklahoma Department of Health contacted EBT users to tell them their card had been canceled about two weeks after the skimmer was detected.

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"We thought it was a scam at first because the first text had the wrong number," said Sells.

The department sent another text with the correct number.

"So then I called the DHS worker and she let me know that they their reissuing me a card, they said there was about 2,000 EBT cards in this area that has been comprised and canceled," said Alicia Gray, another EBT user.

Now, many shoppers have had to put their grocery chores on hold as they await their new cards.

"Thank goodness, I stockpiled because I have three kids," said Sells.

An investigation is underway with a few persons of interest, said Durant police.

"We encourage everybody, if you feel that you’ve been a victim of the scamming, we urge them to come forward and speak with us," said Spencer.

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