Cafe owner scammed for thousands of dollars by customer manipulating EFTPOS machine

Phoebe Loomes
JANUARY 4, 2019
news.com.au
A Gold Coast cafe was scammed out of thousands when a customer casually took control of the EFTPOS machine when paying the bill.
A Gold Coast cafe owner has been scammed out of $5000 after two customers boldly grifted him after finishing their meals.
The two men approached the counter, one of them taking the EFTPOS machine off the staff member to pay, and as he did so he altered the price of the meal.
The original price was around $25, entered by the staff member, but when she handed the machine to the customer, he cancelled the transaction by removing his card.
He then began a new mobile transaction, entering stolen credit card numbers, Gold Coast business owner Peter Dufty told news.com.au.
“He was taking a long time with the machine, but when people are entering their pin you have to give them privacy,” Mr Dufty said.
The man then punched in a price of $2500.
After the payment cleared the customer raised the alarm to the server, demanding a refund for the massive overcharge.
He insisted the server had made a mistake and entered too many decimals on the original price of $25.
“He basically said, ‘Oh it must have been a mistake, my wife is gonna kill me … I need a refund’,” Mr Dufty said.
As it turned out, the original payment had been made with a stolen credit card.
The men then used one of their own credit cards to pocket the $2500 refund. The men quickly went to an ATM to withdraw the cash.
“That’s when Westpac rang my wife and said, ‘you guys have just been scammed’,” said Mr Dufty.
Mr Dufty said he and his wife found out they were $5000 out of pocket on Christmas Eve.
The men had approached Caffe Republic in Southport on the Gold Coast on a busy Saturday at the end of December.
He said his bank has currently advised him his business is at fault for processing a stolen credit card.
But Mr Dufty disagrees and thinks a merchant pin should be installed in EFTPOS machines. “As retailers we need a pin to do that over the phone transaction.”
The men also allegedly targeted another sushi business in Southport and scammed them for $1500, according to Mr Dufty. The police investigations are ongoing.
Mr Dufty has advised other business owners to “be vigilant. I’ve been contacted by lots of other business owners.
“These crooks are smart enough to find a loophole.”