Recent credit card skimmer cases at four gas stations in McAllen, has local law enforcement reminding consumers to be vigilant when pumping gasoline at gas stations.
Although the last time the Brownsville Police Department received a report of a card skimmer was about three months ago, the recent cases reported in McAllen should serve as a reminder that card skimmers are still being used around the Rio Grande Valley.
Investigator Martin Sandoval, spokesman for the Brownsville Police Department, said the way a consumer may be able to recognize a card skimmer at the pump is by noting whether the tamper seal at the gas pump is torn, and if the device where you insert your credit card moves.
“If it’s a fake one and once you give it a little tug it will pop out, those are the outer ones,” Sandoval said. “There are some that are actually inside and that is why the tamper seal is very important because they have to break that tamper seal in order to make entry into the gas pump.”
The tamper seals on the gas pumps are labeled as tamper seals and every time a technician goes and works on the pumps he breaks the seal, Sandoval said. Once his work is done he puts on a new seal.
“If that seal is broken, stay away from the gas pump,” Sandoval said. “A lot of the times the way we catch them is that the technicians will open the gas pumps and they will call us and say ‘hey this doesn’t belong here, it’s a skimmer’ and then we will take possession of it.”
He said the best way to prevent from being a victim of a card skimmer scheme is you should go inside the gas station to pay for their fuel.
On Sept. 2, 2021 two credit card skimmers were located at the gas pumps of the Stripes located at 1400 Military Highway, Sandoval said. People who purchased fuel at the location were urged to check their bank and credit card statements to make sure they had not acquired any fraudulent charges.
