Thursday, April 14th 2016, 10:11 pm
Thieves have found a new way to steal credit card information without the victim even knowing. It's called skimming.
On Wednesday, April 13, Edmond Police found three skimmers at a gas station off I-35.
Investigators are finding more and more skimmers attached to the inside of gas pumps each month. But before you fill up, there are things you can look for to protect your accounts.
Most of the time, we look for a gas station that's close and cheap, often not paying attention to the pump itself. And that's what the skimming crooks want.
“They are opening up the pump door, attaching these devices to the card reader that's inside the pump,” said Jenny Wagnon, Edmond police.
The skimming devices are found inside attached to the card reader out of sight from customers.
“When I gas up sometimes or when I use my credit card at an ATM, I try to pay attention to see if there is anything extra on the machine,” said Frank Robinson, while filling his car with gas.
But there are things to look for to know if someone has tampered with a pump.
Each company monitors pumps differently; some use a double lock system while others put red tape over the seal.
“In general, I would probably not pay attention to that. Me as a regular consumer wouldn't know what those are for,” said Robinson.
At Oncue, tampering with its machines will trigger an alarm and immediately stops the pump from dispensing gas.
“We recommend if you have some where go and get gas regularly go inside and ask them what are their security measures,” said Wagnon.
Experts say these skimming crooks often like to manipulate the machines farthest from the clerk. So it's best to use pumps closer to the convenience store.
The best way all together to stop this from happening to you is by paying in cash, and if you don't have cash use a credit card preventing the money from coming directly out of your account.
April 14th, 2016
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