Skimmer scammers have become more sophisticated and the illegal devices are now difficult to spot. Orange Police Captain Robert Enmon said thieves have managed to get keys that open gasoline pumps and they place a skimmer on the interior. “They can do it in ten seconds,” he said.
A few cases of credit card fraud have been filed with the Orange Police Department in the past couple of weeks. Enmon said most of the cases can be traced back to a credit card skimmer.
People across Orange County became familiar with skimmers in 2015 as dozen of people had credit or debit card information stolen. Then unauthorized charges began being made on their accounts.
A skimmer installed on the card reader sends the card information, to a computer or smart phone. Thieves then use the card numbers for purchases or cash.
Enmon said the skimmers are likely coming from organized groups from the Houston area. OPD currently has a detective working with a U.S. Secret Service task force investigating the crime.
Enmon said only three or four gas stations in the city have not found skimmers. When the devices were first being discovered, some had also been placed on Red Box DVD booths outside. The thieves used the booths and gas pumps because they were outside of buildings.
Four years ago, the skimmers were placed over the exterior card readers. Police told consumers to check the reader before swiping a card to see if a device had been added. Now, the skimmers can be slipped into an illegally opened gas pump.
Enmon said recently a clerk at an Interstate 10 store saw suspicious movement at a pump and went outside to check. He thinks the clerk stopped the installation of a skimmer. However, surveillance video did not help in an investigation. The people at the pump knew how to avoid getting their faces or license plate on camera.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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