In recent weeks, there has been a number of skimming cases in the city and around the state of Florida.
Card skimming is when a thief uses a small device to steal your credit or debit card information when it’s used for a normal transaction, like buying gas at the pump. When the card is swiped, the device steals the banking information stored in the magnetic stripe—your account number, full name, the card’s expiration date, and the country code. Sometimes these devices will also contain a pinhole camera or a fake keypad which will also steal your PIN.
Older gas pumps are particularly vulnerable to card skimming as they rely on technology that only reads the magnetic stripe data on a card (even if the card has a chip). The chance of having your card skimmed increases when the gas station isn’t monitored by cameras, gas attendants or other customer
Follow these tips to protect yourself from this crime.
