The Acadia Parish Sheriff's Office (APSO) is warning the public to be on the lookout after recent reports of card skimmers in nearby parishes.
What
Card skimming theft can affect anyone who uses their credit or debit cards at ATMs, gas stations, restaurants or retail stores. A skimmer is a device installed on card readers that collects card numbers. Thieves will later recover and use this information to make fraudulent purchases. Skimmers can usually be spotted by doing quick visual or physical inspections before swiping or inserting a card. PIN numbers can also be stolen via fake keypads placed over real keypads.
How to Spot
Before using an ATM, gas pump, or cash register POS, check for alignment issues between the card reader and the panel underneath it. Skimmers are often placed on top of the actual card reader making it stick out at an odd angle or cover arrows in a panel. A physical inspection of a card reader and keypad can often reveal fraudulent devices. Feel around the reader and try to wiggle it to see if it can easily come out of place.
Gas pumps should have a security tape or sticker over the cabinet panel. If the tape looks ripped or broken, avoid using the card reader because a thief may have tampered with it, according to the Sheriff's Office.
What Happens if You have Been Skimmed
Thieves will use stolen card information in a few different ways: a thief can make their own fake credit cards, make fraudulent purchases online or sell the stolen information on the internet.
When making purchases at a gas station, opt to use a credit card instead of a debit card to take advantage of a credit cards extra protection like zero liability. Another option is to pay for gas inside with the cashier, where the POS system is less likely to have been tampered with. If you are using a debit card, run it as a credit card instead of entering a PIN. That way, the PIN is safe and the money isn’t deducted immediately from your account
Regularly monitor credit card activity by actively checking bank statements or (even better) by accessing the account online.
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