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Debit Card Fraud in Bradford County

WYALUSING — Wyalusing has about 600 people living in the borough and according to state police, 200 people in the area are recent victims of debit card fr...

WYALUSING -- Wyalusing has about 600 people living in the borough and according to state police, 200 people in the area are recent victims of debit card fraud.

Between February 15th and March 12th, state police said customers from PS Bank and Community Bank in Wyalusing had their debit card information compromised.

Genesis Salon is right next to PS bank. Employees at the salon said many clients and at least three employees were affected.

Melissa Nowland is one of them. She said, "My husband went to use his card at the ATM and it said unauthorized user."

Nowland said someone racked up about $200 in charges using her card between Pittsburgh and New Jersey, "We noticed that there were four charges that we didn't do."

PS Bank customer Debbie Dietz said when she went into the bank last month, at least six other people were talking about these debit card issues, but she said they got their money back.

"I'm not one of these people who uses the card at stores because I was there when I saw all these people come in wondering what happened to all the money in their accounts," said Dietz from Wyalusing.

"Immediately, that day, they refunded the money automatically and then they ordered us new debit cards, so the bank was really good about it," said Nowland.

PS Bank released the following statement: "It is important to note that this was in no way a breach of PS Bank or any of our systems, but rather of the merchant or merchants processing the transactions."

State police are now investigating the fraud, but it has customers second guessing their purchases.

"I use a debit card for everything, so you just have to think a little bit more to make sure you have cash on hand and be careful about where you use it," said Nowland.

Calls to Community Bank were not returned.

Banking experts believe it's safer to use a debit card when you have to enter you pin number. Otherwise, they encourage customers to constantly check their accounts and report any strange activity to your bank.

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