Credit Card 'Skimmers' Found at County Gas Stations
This is just one day after a similar device was found at Cumberland Farms in Great Barrington. An employee found it attached to the Pittsfield location's card machine and called the police.
"This device was found placed at Register 1 inside the store, and with information gathered so far it appears it had been placed there on September 4th in the morning hours," the Pittsfield Police Department wrote on Facebook.
"If you used your credit/debit at the store from September 4th until today, we would advise you to immediately contact your card provider to have a new card issued. We would also advise those folks to check their transactions to see if any suspicious charges are found."
Skimming occurs when devices illegally installed on or inside ATMs, point-of-sale terminals, or fuel pumps capture card data and record cardholders' PIN entries. This is then used to create fake payment cards and then make unauthorized purchases or steal from victims' accounts.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that skimming costs financial institutions and consumers more than $1 billion annually.
"Many times cards that were caught up in scams are sold on the black market and may not show any suspicious activity for a period of time," PPD wrote.
"One way to check your card is to look for any purchases that are $1.00. The scammers first try these minimum charges to see if your card is still active. If your card allows you to receive immediate notifications every time it's used, this will help catch these fraudulent incidents almost instantaneously."
On Thursday, the GB police reported the skimmer incident on Facebook and said it is under investigation. The department reminded customers to be vigilant of their bank and credit card accounts and report any fraudulent activity.
Tags: scams,
