Gas Station Skimming

Posted by: Michael S. | Jan 05,2008


Check out this video here (be warned it starts playing immediately if you’re at work).  It’s a local news report about credit card skimming at gas station.  Woohoo!  Something new to worry about.

Normally credit card skimming occurs at restaurants, where it’s a lot easier for a thief to skim a card.  The waiter takes your card from the table and then can do as he pleases for a fair amount of time.  In the hustle and bustle of a restaurant, it’s not surprising if no one notices a waiter running a credit card through a different credit card reader.  The thief skims the info on the card so that he can then use it for his own.  

This is a reason why you should either pay cash at a restaurant or credit.  While it’s not actually recommended that you charge meals to a credit card, a card offers more theft protection than a debit card.  A fraudulent debit card transaction needs to be reported within 60 days.  After that, you’re liable, but it may take that long before you notice something is up.

OK, but here’s where the gas station story comes in – and it’s a pretty daunting prospect.  Credit card skimmers add illegal skimming hardware (these can be seen in the video) right in broad daylight.  That’s how much they look like regular credit card skimmers.  Employees at the gas station might not even know the difference.  

I’ve always felt that using a debit card at a gas pump was safer because you don’t have to enter in your pin number – only your zip code.  Now I’m going to think twice. Obviously this isn’t happening at every gas station in the U.S., but it’s an important piece of news that could help you from being ripped off at the pump (aside from the price of gas).  

Sponsored Resources Ads by Google