Card Skimmer Found At Delco Gas Station

PROSPECT PARK, PA — Police in Delaware County are alerting the public to a credit card skimmer that was found on a gas pump recently.

Prospect Park Police siad a credir card skimming device was found on a pump at the BP Gas Station at 812 Chester Pike in Prospect Park recently.

Accoridng to police, the skimmer is being analyzed for forensic informatino.

Anyone who has been a victim of credit card fraud and has used the BP station is asked to contact Officer O’Neill via email at honeill@prospectparkpolice.com.

Card skimmers are small devices that affix to a card reader, allowing a thief to illegally collect the credit and debit card information of unsuspecting customers. Most commonly, card skimmers are put on ATMs, gas station pumps or self-checkout machines.

The typical ATM skimmer is smaller than a deck of cards and fits over an existing card reader, says PC Mag.

What should you look out for so that you can avoid having your financial information stolen from a skimmer? If you see obvious signs of tampering, or the machine looks suspicious or different than normal, don't use it, experts say.

"One giveaway that you might be at risk is if a terminal looks especially wide — since any overlay skimmer piece will inevitably take up extra space," says Mic.com.

If the keypad backlight is off, that's another warning sign that a skimming device could be installed, the Mic.com article says.

Also, if the chip reader is deeper than normal, beware.

A rule of thumb (no pun intended): if your card goes so deep into a chip reader that you can't keep a thumb on it, that's a sign there could be a skimmer installed.

Here are some images of what a card skimmer looks like on an ATM.

Here is some information on how to avoid skimmers at a gas pump: