Credit card skimmers found at 3 Tigard stores

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Three Tigard stores were found to have credit card skimmers at their registers. Authorities are now urging people who may have visited the stores in the past few days to check their financial statements for suspicious activity.

The skimmers were all discovered at the three separate stores on Sunday, Tigard police said.

Below is the list of Tigard stores where the skimmers were found:

• The 7-Eleven store on 99W and Southwest Park Street
• The Dollar Tree on 99W and Southwest Hall Boulevard
• Another Dollar Tree store on 99W and Southwest Durham Road

Tigard police said the first skimmer was discovered at the 7-Eleven store by a customer at 12:42 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 21. The customer told an employee, who then removed the skimmer and called police. Surveillance footage shows the skimmer was likely placed on Saturday night around 8:40 p.m.. Police said they are working to identify the possible suspect.

Then, just after noon on Sunday, another skimmer was found at the Dollar Tree at Southwest Hall Boulevard. The manager had discovered the skimmer, removed it, and then contacted the police.

Another skimmer was subsequently discovered at the Dollar Tree on Southwest Durham Road later that same day. Though the assistant manager found it, then removed it immediately, the report with Tigard police wasn’t made until Tuesday morning, officials said.

Also on Tuesday, the Portland Police Bureau said they discovered a skimmer device at a completely separate Dollar Tree near Mall 205 on Southeast Washington Street in Portland. In that case, Portland police advised that people who shopped at that store from Sept. 20 through the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 23, should check their credit card statements for unusual activity.

KOIN 6 News asked the Tigard Police Department if they believe there is any connection between the Tigard cases and the Portland case, in regard to the recent spate of skimmers discovered, and if there are any suspects.

“I think it’s fair to say investigators are looking into whether these might be connected. For the Tigard cases, our detectives are investigating. We haven’t made any arrests yet but we’re working to identify suspect(s),” said Kelsey Anderson, a spokesperson for Tigard Police Department.

Tigard police advised people to take additional steps to protect their information, including using the “tap” feature or mobile wallet instead of swiping their card, checking card readers for signs of tampering, covering the keypad when entering the PIN number, regularly checking statements and opting in to real-time notifications of credit card transactions.