ID thieves hit San Francisco Bay area grocer

MODESTO, Calif. (AP) ? At least 80 employees and customers at nearly two dozen Lucky Supermarkets’ stores in the San Francisco Bay area have had their bank accounts compromised after thieves tampered with the credit and debit card readers in self-checkout lines.

The chain announced the breach on Monday and said many of those people had money stolen from their accounts.

The crooks apparently managed to place skimmers into the readers at 23 stores that captured the customers’ bank numbers.

The chain is part of Modesto-based Save Mart Supermarkets and recommends that anyone who used self-checkout terminals in the affected stores in the past few months should close their accounts immediately.

Lucky customers who believe they were affected by fraudulent use of their credit or debit cards should contact the chain’s customer support center.