Are you traveling somewhere today? Since many people are planning to travel for the Fourth July holiday, the U.S. Secret Service is warning about a surge in criminals’ stealing credit card information at gas pumps. The criminals have been installing a tiny device called a skimmer inside the gas pumps, which copies credit card information when customers pay. Last weekend (June 30th & July 1st) the Secret Service fanned out across the nation, hitting more than 80 locations in 21 states, looking for skimmers at gas stations.
They recovered 59 skimmers from 85 locations in total. Matthew O’Neill, assistant to the special agent in charge of the Criminal Investigative Division adds, “They’re monetizing the stolen payment card data in multiple ways and the easiest way is they’ll take the stolen payment card number and will re-encode a gift card or credit card and then they will use that to buy electronics, gift cards, stuff that they can fence on grey market, the black market or the open market.” To reduce your chance of having an issue you should bring your credit card inside the gas station to pay.
