After multiple local TwinStar Credit Union members began reporting thousands of dollars stolen from their accounts this weekend, the credit union announced Sunday that the incidents were not due to a data breech or hack.
“Notice: TwinStar systems have not been compromised in any way,” the credit union posted on social media. “We have, however, been notified of a gas pump skimmer in Lewis County and we are working on reaching out to impacted members at this time.”
The social media post included a link to a January 2019 article calling fraud claims as a result of skimmers a “near epidemic.”
As of Monday afternoon, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office had received no report from TwinStar or anyone else of a skimmer device being found on an area gas pump, Chief Deputy Dusty Breen told The Chronicle.
Breen said the Sheriff’s Office also hasn’t received reports of any other bank or credit union’s customers being affected. Typically, skimmers at gas stations target all credit card numbers, rather than one institution’s accounts.
“Everything so far appears to be all TwinStar accounts,” he said.
Breen said the Sheriff’s Office got “seven or eight” reports from Lewis County residents, all of whom had money withdrawn from their TwinStar accounts at locations in Seattle or elsewhere in King County.
“If we get evidence that there was a skimmer device and we’re contacted by the institution, we’ll go back and look for surveillance feeds,” Breen said, while discussing how the Sheriff’s Office might go about an investigation.
The Chronicle will update this story when more information is available.
