For the second time in four weeks a credit card skimmer has been located on a gasoline pump at a Smithfield convenience store.
Employees at the Kangaroo Express on North Brightleaf Boulevard at Booker Dairy Road located the skimming device on a pump around5:00pm Sunday.
Police Captain R. Sheppard said they do not believe any credit card information was obtained by the suspects because the card reader that holds the information was still inside the gas pump.
Police are working with the business to determine when the pump was last checked. Detectives are also review surveillance tapes to try and identify the person or persons who placed the credit card skimming device on the pump.
On May 30th a skimmer was found on a fuel pump at the Sunoco on East Market Street near I-95.
Skimmers are used to steal account data from the magnetic stripe on the back of your credit card, along with the PIN if it is a debit card transaction. It takes a thief less than 30 seconds to install a skimmer.
It is difficult if not impossible for people using the debit and credit card swipe machines to know if a skimmer has been placed on the pump. However, you can look for broken safety seals on the credit card reader doors on the pumps.
In both of these cases, the seals had been broken.
Police say if you are uncertain if the seal has been tampered with or you just want to be extra cautious, go inside the story to use your credit card or pay with cash.
Fortunately, there have been no stolen identity or credit card fraud reports filed from two skimmers found within the past month.
