Credit card fraudsters target Ikea

Around 2pm on Monday afternoon, workers at the Jönköping Ikea alerted police after finding what they believed to be skimming equipment attached to a card reader at one of the store’s self-service check out aisles.

Authorities believe the machine was in place for about four hours on Monday and may have been used to collect credit card information from around 50 customers making legitimate purchases at Ikea.

“We know that between 10am and 2pm it was sitting there: that we’ve been able to determine from surveillance camera footage. That means that people who made purchases after 2pm, or yesterday and earlier are not affected,” Ikea spokesperson Ylva Magnusson told the jnytt.se news website on Monday following the incident.

After the device was discovered, the rest of the store’s credit card reading machines were examined, as well as machines at other shops along the A6 motorway shopping district in Jönköping.

Police have confiscated the machine and are now investigating the matter further, although police spokesperson Tommy Åkerberg refused to divulge any details about what the police have learned so far.

Ikea’s Magnusson added that the banks connected with the cards of customers most likely affected have been alerted and are monitoring the cards for any suspicious activity.