Tampa, Florida -- Inspectors with Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services conducted a sweep of 640 gas stations across the Tampa Bay area and found six gas stations had pumps with skimming devices attached. The devices were taking customer's credit card information.
At one of the gas stations in Hyde Park, the owner is fighting back to protect your information.
In 21 years Richard Yarnell, the owner of 818 Market, has watched his business grow along with the community. He says he can't believe state inspectors ripped a skimming device from one his pumps last Thursday.
"I was horrified. I felt very violated, but I was very happy."
Yarnell is happy because he says analysts from Tampa's Police Department have explained that none of his customers' credit card information has been comprised because the skimmer was caught in the nick of time.
"The bad guys have to come back and physically take it [the skimmer] because the unit itself is recording," he explains.
If the crooks aren't able to retrieve the skimmer they're not able to download your credit card information to rip you off.
Yarnell says the experience has been a huge wake-up call which is why he's spent about $500 now to shore up his pumps so it doesn't happen again. He showed 10 News how he's changed all the locks on his 8 pumps to make them harder to get into.
And remember the red tape on the pumps that we've told you over and over you need to check out before you pump by making sure it hasn't been torn -- meaning the panel has likely been opened and could have been tampered with? Well, now that tape has been improved even more.
Yarnell has an entire roll of these tamper-proof numbered stickers that can't be duplicated and actually warns you when you shouldn't pump. When it's been tampered with, you'll see a message that reads void.
"I know when I lock these things down that someone will virtually have to rip the front of this pump off to be able to get inside of it," he says.
Here are some excellent tips to protect yourself:
- You can pay cash inside the store to totally protect your card information.
- Check the door on the front of the pump to make sure it's closed. Some gas stations put security tape there to help see if the door's been tampered with.
- Don't use pumps far from the store. Those are the pumps where the skimmers usually show up.
- Use a true credit card, not a debit card. Credit cards have better fraud protection.
- If you do use a debit card, pick the option to run it as "credit." That way, crooks can't get your PIN.
- Watch your bank accounts so you can spot any strange charges, fast.
