In order to protect San Luis Obispo County from a type of credit card fraud called “skimming,” the Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures just completed their annual inspection at over 29 gas stations, amounting to 141 fuel pumps across the county, according to a SLO County news release.
Deputy Agriculture Commissioner and Sealer David Aguayo said that credit card skimming works at places like gas stations, where a mechanism reads the magnetic strip of one’s credit card and “lifts those numbers electronically and then stores or sends them somewhere.” The skimmer is able to retrieve card information without revisiting the site.
Aguayo said that after the credit card numbers are received electronically, they are either stored somewhere or sent via Bluetooth.
“Typically, what we’ve seen is criminals will break into the pumps, which requires them to go inside the pumps and physically break them,” Aguayo said. “Then they’ll install the skimmers on the inside.”
Another form of credit card skimming is done with a device called an “overlay.” These are glued onto the already existing pin pads at gas stations.
Along with their annual inspection of gas stations across the county, the Department of Weights and Measure works to prevent credit card skimming by putting additional padlocks on some gas pumps.
The annual inspection turned up with no credit card skimmers at all the gas stations across San Luis Obispo County, according to Aguayo.
To easily identify skimmed machines, the department has installed tamper-proof seals or stickers which show a tear if someone broke into the machine to skim, according to the release.
Skimming was discussed more with gas station employees in order to identify risks, according to Aguayo.
Trying to cover as much land as possible with four members, the team tries to evenly distribute their presence from San Miguel to Grover.
“The ultimate goal is for consumer protection and equity in the marketplace,” Aguayo said. “We want every business to operate by the same standards and protect the consumers as well while doing that.”
To avoid the risk of credit card skimming, Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer of Weights and Measures Martin Settevendemie recommends “paying with cash for fuel purchases or using credit as opposed to debit,” according to his statement in the release.
Anyone affected by credit card skimming who has a complaint can contact a weights and measures inspector at (805) 781-5910.