With ATM theft losses reaching $ 1 billion, criminals are not slowing down, but are changing tack to exploit consumers’ credit and debit cards at gas stations.
Banks are taking steps to protect consumers from ATM skimmers by installing anti-skimming technology that jams skimmer readers with radio signals, monitoring the physical characteristics of the ATM for changes in the ATM image. ATM and installing keyboard covers. Realistically, these are aids to the big problem that is the card security authentication process itself. No matter how secure your local bank makes its ATMs by installing this anti-skimming technology or monitoring its ATMs every day for unusual devices or features, banks cannot protect consumers from skimming by bombs. gasoline.
Service stations don’t have the protection or monitoring that your local bank can provide. At each gas station there are several card readers that are unattended and offer criminals ample opportunity to install discreet skimming devices. The attendant at busy gas stations cannot tell if a customer is installing a skimmer or just using the pump, especially if he is calling customers at the cash register. Additionally, cameras at gas stations are not designed to monitor card reader usage at dispensers, but are used to monitor vehicle exits.
These new types of gas pump skimmers are openly sold on the Internet. For a small investment and with little risk; an unscrupulous person can easily purchase one of the devices, install it at a busy gas station along the interstate somewhere far from their home town, and capture this information wirelessly by placing it in their car at a couple of hundred feet away.
This risk can be mitigated simply by taking advantage of most gas station reward cards.
Many gas stations offer a rewards card that can be loaded with your credit or debit card. Following this process will not only significantly reduce your risk and exposure to gas pump card fraud, but it will also save you money. You want to save money on your gas bill, right?
No, I do not work for any gas company or grocery store, I am an information security professional.
Steps to reduce risk and save money at the gas station
1. Get a rewards card at your local gas station or grocery store
(usually these cards will give you up to 03 cents off per gallon, so look for a good gas station or store that offers this)
2. Use a rewards credit card at the gas station to purchase a gift card at the store that rewards you with points when you load it up.
Be sure to ask the store clerk which card can be used for gas.
(a local gas station I use gives me 1000 points for every $ 50 I charge)
3. Every time you buy gas, you swipe the store rewards card and then pay with the store gift card.
So now you save
- .03 cents each gallon
- Get rewards from your credit card
- Get rewarded by loading the gift card at the store (at 25,000 points, my local gas station gives me $ 25 worth of gas for free)
- Save Your Gas Pump Fraud Exposure Card
Although it may take a little longer to get a rewards card, then load it each time, it’s worth the effort considering that this will reduce your risk of exposure to card fraud at the gas station.
Don’t think you will always notice the card skimmer on gas pumps. Criminals are getting more and more cunning, and devices have been discovered inside gas pumps that would never be detected until the pump is checked.
It is better that we be vigilant and protect the information on our credit and debit cards, because banks and service stations will not do it for us.