Lubbock Police have issued a warning to the community after a skimming device was discovered by law enforcement at a convenience store.
The device was recovered by the Gaines County Sheriff’s Department.
“They come in all shapes and forms, but there are ways people can spot them if they are careful and vigilant,” said LPD Lieutenant Ray Mendoza.
“The most common we see here are at the gas pumps,” he said. “A lot of the gas pumps now are putting a seal, a tape seal on the sides… you have to look on the sides of the machine. But if the seal has been broken it’s probably a good idea not to use that.”
“If you are getting fuel, try to use locations that are closest to the attendant. Most of the suspects will try to put it in a place where they are not easily spotted doing the installation of the skimmer,” Mendoza added.
Mendoza suggested anyone who believes they may have fallen victim to a skimmer, should alert the credit card company and law enforcement.
“The first thing once you do if they believe they’ve been compromised, is to check their accounts frequently. If they got unsuspecting charges on there, immediately call the credit card company and then cancel the credit card,” he said.
“There’s different kinds of actual devices. You’ve got ones that will actually fit right over an ATM, the whole face and everything,” he said. “You’ve also got the ones where they’ll put it in devices such as a gas pump, where they can actually get inside the pump and just use a small chip. When you run your credit card, it’ll scan all that information on it.”
“Once they use it, they get the information, then they go on shopping sprees,” he explained. “They’ll go and try to spend as much money as they can before the victim is actually alerted that something, that their money is missing.”
Seminole Police released the following statement on Facebook:
Skimmer device located locally.
Earlier in the week, Gaines County Sheriff’s Department recovered a “skimmer” device from a convenience store outside the City of Seminole. A skimmer is a device that can collect debit and credit card information which can later be downloaded and used by the criminal. I am asking area business owners that have ATM’s and Gas pumps and the citizens of Seminole to be vigilant and to regularly check and see if anything appears to be tampered with or looks out of the ordinary when servicing or using ATM’s or gas pumps.
Some tips that can help keep your card information from being used is at the gas pumps, do not use the debit portion, use credit so your PIN number will not be compromised. You can also have the clerk run your purchase from inside the store instead of at the pump. Also, check your checking and credit accounts regularly for any irregularities.
Please, if anyone sees someone messing around with the gas pumps or ATM’s and they do not appear to be technicians, try and gather information such as vehicle description, license plate, and physical description of the suspicious person, then contact the Seminole Police Department or the Gaines County Sheriff’s Office.
