CREDIT CARD SKIMMER FOUND AT RIVERSIDE GAS STATION
Device at Brandt Pike gas station is the 49th found in Ohio since 2015, sixth in Montgomery County.
A bank card skimmer discovered at a gas station in Riverside on Tuesday is the 49th found in Ohio since 2015.
The skimmer, the sixth device found in Montgomery County, was removed from a gas pump at the Marathon station on the 2100 block of Brandt Pike.
The bluetooth-enabled device, concealed on the inside of the pump, was located during a routine inspection by the Montgomery County Auditor office’s weights and measures division.
“I’ve instructed my inspectors to check at-risk pumps for skimmers to ensure other stations have not been impacted,” Montgomery County Auditor Karl Keith said in a release. “However, once my inspectors leave, the pumps become vulnerable again. Consumers should always take the proper measures to protect themselves.”
Skimming devices are used to record credit card numbers and debit card information. The devices are placed inside pumps and secretly collect personal data when customers swipe their cards.
The person who installed the Riverside skimmer likely used a universal key to open the pump, said Joseph Harris, chief inspector with the Montgomery County Auditor office’s weights and measures division.
But the station’s owner says he will install more security cameras and replace the pump locks with unique key locks that are harder
to circumvent, he said.
“It makes a huge difference, because these criminals want to get in and out as quickly as possible, so anything that can distract them for five or three minutes, they’ll want to run away and go somewhere else,” he said.
Riverside police have seized the skimmer as evidence and will examine it for clues. Identifying the crooks who install skimmers tends to be very challenging, even when there are cameras at the stations, because it’s hard to know when exactly they installed the devices, officials said.
The best way to avoid becoming a theft victim at the pump is to use cash, and it is unwise to use debit cards that require card owners to punch in their personal codes, Harris said.
Thieves can potentially wipe out people’s bank accounts if they gain access to their secret pass codes. Skimmers can be purchased online for as little as $30.
Skimmers typically are found at pumps in high-traffic areas near highways, where thieves hope to steal the card information of motorists who are traveling and may not be in a position to closely monitor their financial accounts, officials said.
Inspectors with the auditors office checked more than 13,000 pumps for skimmers in the last year.