Gas pump skimmers in NC fuel unauthorized charges and spark customer concern

Some people even develop a routine.

“I go to the same Sam’s Club in Raleigh every time I need gas,” said Mary Margaret Daughtry, adding that most of the time she uses the same pump.

Two weeks ago, she discovered her card had been used to rack up charges at a California strip club and a pizza restaurant in Nevada without her knowledge or authorization.

“It was for over $700,” Daughtry said.

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Card skimmers have been popping up across the Triangle and the country, targeting unsuspecting motorists whose credit or debit cards are hit with purchases the owner knows nothing about.

Stephen Benjamin, is the division director of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. He said his agency stepped up its efforts to find gas pump skimmers two years ago.

Investigators in North Carolina say they have found almost half as many skimmers this year as they found in all of 2017.

“We know of seven that have been removed this year,” Benjamin said.

Daughtry said she warned her friends after she became a victim.

“I texted my friends. I told them (to) pull on it or pay with cash, because this has happened to me.”

Many people think that simply tugging on the card reader is an easy way to see if there is a skimmer at the pump, but doing that is not going to guarantee that your information is safe, state officials say.

“It could be an exterior skimmer, and typically those slide right over the top of the one that’s there,” Benjamin said. “It should pop right off (when you tug on it) but we haven’t found any of those” in North Carolina.

Some pump skimmers can be attached inside the pump’s operating mechanism.

Raleigh police Sgt. Haywood Alexander said, “I wouldn’t know it if I just walked up to it. I would have to open [the pump] up and find” the skimmer.

Administrators at the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services recommend that customers review their credit card receipts and avoid paying with a debit card at the pump.

But, the safest option could be what Daughtry recommends to her friends and family.

"If you’re able to, use cash instead of a card,” Daughtry said. “This is a major issue and it’s happening more and more.”

Investigators say that North Carolina’s problem with pump skimmers could grow as criminals who have targeted Florida’s gas pumps move out of the Sunshine State and migrate north.