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Credit Card Scam Affecting Residents In Central Mass. Towns

LEOMINSTER (CBS) - A Leominster family watched online as thieves drained their accounts using their own Visa credit/debit card information.

It's a scam that's apparently affected dozens of people in Central Massachusetts, and the questions being asked are 'who' and 'how'.

For Shawna Greenfield, the charges between March 8 and 9 kept adding up to as much as nearly six hundred dollars.

"It's scary, one day you can have all this money and the next day it's gone," she said.

WBZ-TV's Beth Germano reports.

The purchases she could view online were being made in several towns in the state of Georgia from Murphy Express Gas Station to Flash Foods convenience store. Her information had been stolen.

"The best we can tell at this point is someone actually made a blank credit card with the information," said her father Scott Greenfield.

He's a victim too, and while someone could have hacked their accounts, Scott Greenfield doesn't make online purchases like his daughter.

They're looking at a Leominster convenience store, gas station and credit union they all share for a potential thief who could have somehow scanned, and sold their information.

"Drained it, the balance was zero this morning," said Scott Greenfield.

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Shawna Greenfield even contacted the Georgia gas station where someone was using the pump with her information.

"I gave them the last four digits of my debit card the day it was happening and they have the guy on video swiping numerous credit cards," she said.

It was a 24-hour spree that wreaked havoc on their accounts. The card information has been canceled by Visa, but they believe the thieves have only moved on.

"This is happening on a minute by minute basis. These things are happening as we speak," said Scott Greenfield.

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