Customer stops debit card skimming scheme at AM/PM

Another tale of a skimming device being found at a gas station has surfaced in the local Northern California news. In this instance, a savvy customer figured out what was going on and notified the Police.

Koula Gianulias CBS 13, Sacramento reports:

Skimming at the pump. Hundreds of dollars have been stolen from unsuspecting drivers. Recently, a local driver figured out he was being taken.

When Joe Schroder tried to pay for gas at the ARCO in Newcastle, he had some trouble sliding his ATM card into the slot.

“Got up under it, pry up on this. It popped off in my hand and I knew I had something there,” says Joe Schroeder.

In June, a similar problem occurred at AM/PM stations in Huntington Beach in Southern California. One of the reasons, authorities speculate card skimmers like AM/PM is because they only accept debit cards.

As far as I've heard, the suspects in this case are still at large, also.

Huntington Beach Independent article, here.

Koula got the official statement from the parent company, which is:

”The number one priority of BP, ARCO, AM/PM is the safety and security of our customers' every transaction, every day, at all of our sites. It is unacceptable that our customers and company have been targeted by these thieves. We are continually updating our systems to further protect our customers.”

Of course, in this case, it also helps to have aware customers frequenting your premises!

CBS13 story, here.

There is an excellent video on CBS13 link, showing how one of these devices can be installed at a gas station in 20 seconds, or less!

I've also done a few posts on skimming, which might help educate people, here.

If you scroll all the way to the bottom, there are a lot of pictures and links to more pictures to take a look at.

This activity doesn't only occur in the United States. It's happening all over the world.



Similar device discovered at a gas station in Great Britain. (Courtesy of Flickr)

Story about activity in Finland, here.

Stealing money from ATMs is taken to a more dangerous level

I've written a lot about ATM skimming -- where electronic devices are used to record payment card information, clone the information on a new card -- and steal money.

A new and much more dangerous (potentially deadly) means of stealing money from ATMs is occurring. Although most of this is happening in South Africa, it has happened recently in the United States, also.

Monica Laganparsad of the Times is reporting:

ATM blasts in KwaZulu-Natal have dramatically increased in the past two months.

During the first five months of this year seven ATM bombings were reported in the province, but in the past two months the figure has jumped to 14.

The organised crime unit of the province’s police claims to be hot on the heels of those behind the blasts.

According to the article, there have been 194 ATM bombings in South Africa this year. One man had his arms blown off, while trying to use an ATM!

I would like to have found out that ATM bombings were purely a South African phenomenon, but they are not. On July 2nd, Fox News reported a similar series of attempts in Kansas City, here.

Stealing, or attempting to break into ATMs is nothing new.

Fox News has another video, where a "Bobcat earth mover" was used to steal a ATM machine in Kansas, here.

Times (South Africa) story, here.






ATM machine after being bombed courtesy of Pat Hawks at Flickr