Reports of Unauthorized Debits Dwindling

The pace at which Oconee County citizens are reporting unauthorized debit card transactions has slowed, according to Chief Investigator Lt. David Kilpatrick of the .

Last week he to their bank accounts because there had been a spike in such reports.  He said at the time it appeared that hacking had occurred at the processing level and affected several locations along Timothy Road in Athens and Epps Bridge Parkway, which was not a fault of the stores or restaurants themselves.

Victims have been customers of different banks, he said, and usually three to four charges had been made in the amount of $40-$75 each before the issuing bank noticed a change in a consumer's buying patterns and froze the account.  Generally, the transactions had occurred out of state in places such as North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, California and Tennessee, he said.

Kilpatrick said Tuesday he believed the source where numbers were compromised has since been tapped out.  Only one report has been filed since March 17, in contrast to the over 60 filed between March 8 and March 15.

An estimated $40,000-$45,000 was stolen from 65 victims over the course of about 8 days, he said.

Still, the 65 reports that the Sheriff's Office received only represents a percentage of the overall damage from the hack, he explained.  The full extent of the crime is unknown since those traveling through Oconee or living in neighboring counties wouldn't have submitted reports to the Oconee County Sheriff's Office. Also, individual bank policies vary, he said, and not all banks require that an incident report be filed with law enforcement when unauthorized use takes place.

"We want (the public) to be aware that when it does strike, it strikes in large numbers," he said.

"There's not anything I can explain to any victim of how he can prevent this from happening.  It's happened to me personally," he said.  "It's happened to many people that I know."

His advice is still for consumers to monitor their accounts closely.

"We're here to assist in any way that we can," he said. "We're taking their reports seriously,"

Kilpatrick said he has been asked to look at a couple of similar reports filed recently with the to see if there is any connection.