Thieves Target New Wawa Stores

ORANGE COUNTY, FLA. -- Although they have just opened, thieves have already targeted Wawa Inc. locations in the Orlando, Fla., area. According to WFTV.com, thieves "cloned" seven consumers' debit cards and used the data to pay for gas at Wawa locations near SeaWorld and Orlando International Airport.

One of those debit card numbers belonged to Leslie Delgado, who knew there was no way she spent $1,300 to gas up her SUV at Wawa.

"I said something's going on because I'm not going to spend that amount of money," she told the television station. "… When I checked my account, I had 16 transactions over the period of a week."

Delgado was not alone. Six other Wawa customers were victims of the fraud. No customer data was physically taken from a Wawa station, the convenience store chain stated.

One way to help counteract the fraud is for gas stations to require consumers to enter their ZIP code after swiping their card at the pump. That makes cloning more time consuming and difficult, according to media reports.

The SeaWorld- and Orlando International Airport-area Wawa stores did not require consumers to enter their ZIP codes prior to the crime. A Wawa spokesperson told the news outlet that many international customers -- who don't reside in a ZIP code -- would be unable to enter the five-digit number.

However, a Wawa corporate representative said the c-store chain now requires ZIP codes to be entered at all of its new Florida stores following the fraud.

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