Blake Dowling
I was having lunch with Tallahassee banker Ben Graybar and we had an open dialogue on Cyber Security, threats and how we can make sure our customers were protected. Some common threats were discussed, like boss phishing, identity theft, crypto-locker, password protocols, and then some new threats were revealed.
There was one in particular I wanted to make sure to share, I had certainly never heard of it. It hit me like the first bourbon and coke of football season (we are close to game 1 sports fans). The scam in question is in regards to pumping gas and credit card swiping at the pump. The Department of Agriculture is reporting that 103 skimmer devices have been found at gas stations around the state. They inspected over 7,000 operations in total. The skimming device is a fraudulent key pad that sits on top of the actual credit card key pad, allows you to run your fuel transactions. But it steals your credit card info also. If you see something that does not look right while pumping your gas. Report it immediately. Things to look for would be a wobbly key pad, exposed wires or a pad that does not feel stable, or a key pad that looks completely out of place with the rest of the pump. Keep in mind not all skimming devices are easy to locate. Others could be placed inside the machine and those are certainly not going to be seen by the consumer.
This type of fraud is especially ruthless as your pin number can be stolen from a checking account. If a criminal runs a penned transaction, you will have an extremely difficult time recouping any monies. As the Secret Service told one victim of this type of crime, you need to get in line behind the 7 figure victims. That is cold, but it is the facts. They deal with the big high dollar cases first.
The inspections were run as a part of an on-going effort by the Florida Petroleum Council and other groups to educate the industry on this type of threat. A skimming device was found in 29 Florida counties. That is a huge footprint, and will only get bigger, as law enforcement and consumers catch up to the criminals.
Law enforcement says to avoid this type of crime, use credit instead of debit (better fraud prevention with credit cards. Or use cash or plastic inside the store while they play catch up with the criminals that perpetrate this type of fraud. This may sound extreme but it certainly is better than waking up one morning with your checking count drained. Be safe out there.
— Blake Dowling is chief business development officer at Aegis Business Technologies. He writes for several regional publications. Contact him at [email protected] or at www.aegisbiztech.com.
