Businesses beware — a store clerk in Camden, New Jersey, said he caught potential thieves placing a card skimmer at his checkout counter. Police are now searching for the people behind it. “And I look at my card reader over here and I see it right on there and I just grabbed it and ripped it off,” said Anderson Fernandez of Fernandez Food Market. Fernandez said it almost looked identical to the real deal, but it wasn’t. He ripped a skimming device off his card reader seconds after he said a customer put it there. “All I hear from behind me is plastic trim going into place. And when I turn around, I look at my card reader and I immediately see it on there,” said Fernandez. Fernandez said while he was helping a woman with a question, he heard the man she was with place something on the machine, which was all caught on camera. According to Fernandez, he immediately ripped the card skimmer off and called the police just as the woman and man left the shop. “It would have hurt my business, my customers, who knows how much damage it could have done,” said Fernandez. Detectives said this is now the fifth incident involving a card skimmer they’ve seen since July. Earlier this week, another was found at a store two blocks from Fernandez’s. The Rutgers University Police Department shared that they are investigating after a credit card skimmer was discovered attached to the checkout counter payment terminal at the 7-Eleven convenience store located on Cooper Street in Camden on Dec. 8. “Definitely just pay attention to your bank statements,” said Lt. Carolyn Dona of Camden County Police. Police said that if you go to pay at a store and see the machine is loose, a different color, or the buttons feel too hard, all of these are red flags. “Might want to tell the store owner and just double check, like, is this correct, before you scan your card,” said Dona. Director for Camden County’s board of social services, Christine Hentisz, said, unfortunately, they’ve seen more and more SNAP recipients falling victim. She advises those customers to go online and lock their cards. “When you go to the store, unlock it, use the card, and then relock it. So even if your information is stolen, nobody can use that card without your permission,” Hentisz shared.  “People are literally getting money that they need taken away,” Fernandez said. Fernandez adds that he is so grateful that he caught on to the skimming device fast so that none of his customers had to suffer. “It’s like you’re coming into the neighborhood to do damage to the people in the neighborhood, and that’s not cool,” Fernandez added. Now he hopes police find the people responsible. ...read more read less