A technician performing routine maintenance at a local gas station on Thursday discovered credit/debit card skimmers hidden inside two of the pumps.
Kevin Gray, an employee of American Petroleum, was checking the gas pumps at the Valero, 1201 Central Ave., when he discovered the devices and notified Hot Springs police. Officers responded to the scene and later posted a cautionary video featuring Gray on social media to warn the public.
"We encourage everyone to check their credit/debit cards statements for any fraudulent activity," police said in the post. "We also strongly encourage station owners to check their pumps."
Officer 1st Class Joey Williams told The Sentinel-Record officers were out checking other gas stations within the city for similar skimmers as a precaution Thursday.
It was noted the two skimmers found at the Valero were wired on the inside of the credit card readers so they could not be seen externally by a customer inserting their credit or debit card.
"This is a typical skimmer," Gray says in the video. "It's hooked up in series with the cables on the card reader logic board. It grabs card data and PIN numbers."
Gray told the Sentinel-Record he found the skimmers during his yearly maintenance check and calibration of the pumps. Because they are only required to check the pumps once a year, he said the skimmers could have been attached to pumps five and six for quite some time.
After the video was posted on the police department's Facebook page, one person who commented asked how the information gets back to the individual who installed it, and whether a surveillance camera could be used to observe anyone who returned to retrieve it.
The police department responded that the data was retrieved by Bluetooth, and the individual could be "several yards away."
In response to another comment, the police department said the individual who installed the skimmer was able to get access to the inside of the pump because they "obtained a key. The keys to these pumps are easy to obtain."
Williams noted it would not have taken the thief long to install the skimmer, either. "Plug and run. It takes just a few seconds," he answered in response to a comment after The Sentinel-Record shared the video on Facebook.
Anyone who may have seen anything or has any information about the scam should contact police at 321-6789.
Local on 01/19/2018