Southern shop owners are being warned by police about a scam involving eftpos machines that has already left one business out of pocket.
A Southern district police spokesman said the scam involved an offender entering a shop, buying goods and asking to withdraw cash with the purchase.
''While completing the transaction on the eftpos machine, the offender somehow reboots the machine.
''When the machine reboots and logs on again, it prints a blank receipt with the word 'Accepted' on it, causing the shop owner to believe the transaction has completed.''
If the transaction is queried by the shop owner, the offender produces a pre-formatted text message on their phone, supposedly sent from their bank, stating the shop, the amount of the transaction and that it had been completed, he said.
''Police are currently only aware of a single incident of this happening so far, but are urging shop owners to remain vigilant and to contact police if this has happened to them.''
