KEESEVILLE — As Wayne Taylor did a regular gas pump inspection on Pump 3 at Keeseville Mobil, he found a skimmer, a device that steals credit card information.
Taylor, director of the Essex County Department of Weights and Measures, said the skimmer isn’t just the first device he’s found.
It's also the first of its kind authorities have discovered in New York state.
While Bluetooth-based skimmers have been turned up, this is the first cellular-based one. This device, after reading a customer’s credit card information, sends it to the thief by text message, whereas others send it via Bluetooth wireless technology.
Any Bluetooth device can pick up the signal of another nearby but cellular skimmers are harder to trace.
“I handed it off to the (State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation) in Plattsburgh,” Taylor said, “and now the FBI is actually conducting a statewide investigation on gas pumps.”
UNIVERSAL KEYS
To the untrained eye, a skimmer doesn’t look like anything out of the ordinary. It could easily be overlooked amid the wires and circuits inside an electrical box, so even if owners are checking the pumps regularly, they might still miss it.
Placing a skimmer isn’t that hard, either, according to Taylor.
“People sneak in under the cover of darkness and install them into the gas pump kiosk,” he said. “It only takes a minute, not even, if you’re familiar with the electrical work.”
Plus, gas pumps don’t have specific keys for every station like cars or house doors do. They run off a set of universal keys, so thieves would need only one key to open countless pumps.
SECURITY SEALS
Taylor said the owner of Keeseville Mobil, Sikandar Khan, wasn’t aware of the skimmer and was upset to learn it had been found. Taylor advised him to install tamper-indicating seals on all of his pumps.
“All of the bigger chain operations have security seals,” he said. “If someone tries to install a skimmer, the seal will be corrupted and it will be visible. (Khan) asked if he could use another lock, but I told him it wouldn’t be enough. He can’t padlock it in a way that I can’t get into it.”
Seeing as how this is the first skimmer identified in New York, Taylor said he felt both good and bad about finding it.
“A lot of what I do is mundane,” he said. “When you do find something that will protect the consumer, it’s rewarding.”
— The Press-Republican, Adirondack Daily Enterprise, Glens Falls Post Star and Watertown Daily Times share stories of regional interest.
AVOID SCAM BY SKIMMERS
Credit/debit card information stolen at gas pumps and ATMs by skimmer devices can cloned and used to run up charges or empty bank accounts.
When ATMs in Overland, Mo., were used by fraudulent cards recently, the Overland Police Department offered these tips to citizens:
• Pay inside at gas stations. There less chance a skimmer has been placed on a card reader inside the gas station.
• Use a credit card instead of a debit card at the gas pump. Most, if not all credit cards, have zero liability policies. Not all debit cards do, and if your debit card gets compromised they have all the money you have in the bank.
• An app is available for android device that detects Bluetooth skimmers on gas pumps and also on ATMs: https://tinyurl.com/y8geakpz
• Check your bank account information after all purchases.
• Check for tampering at the gas pump before you swipe your card. Also wiggle everything. If it moves then chances are something is wrong.
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