After four credit-card skimmers were recently found on gas pumps at a Brooksville gas station, Hernando County deputies are out warning other gas stations in the area.
The skimmers were installed in the pumps at the Hess gas station, located at 26260 Cortez Blvd. The manager discovered the skimmers during his normal inspection of the pumps.
Deputies said the skimmers were put in the pumps between 6 p.m. on Tuesday and 7:15 a.m. on Wednesday. They were only on pumps 1, 2, 7 and 8.
"The average customer is not going to have any idea a skimmer like that is even present," said Det. Tony Aguiar of the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office. "The people that do these types of things are not amateurs. They're professional in what they do. They're smart. They're intelligent and they do this a lot."
The United States Secret Service did the analysis of the four skim devices on Thursday and found a total of 342 card numbers were located on the devices.
There is no evidence that these devices have blue tooth capabilities, which means not everyone’s information was not obtained by the suspects.
Detectives said there’s really no way drivers would know they’re being ripped off unless someone catches the crooks in the cast. In this case, investigators don’t yet know who got scammed since they have yet to analyze the devices. But crooks are getting craftier, they said.
In other cases across the country, investigators say some crooks use wireless skimmers. That means they don’t even have to go back to the pump to get the stolen information.
Instead, all they have to do is sit in the gas station parking lot, open up their laptop, and download the information.
So what can people do to protect themselves? Experts say checking their credit card or bank statements is the best option.
Investigators also said crooks like to target stations like the Hess on Cortez Blvd. since it’s only a few minutes from Interstate 75.
They believe more gas stations in that area are likely to be hit.
Deputies said they’ll be analyzing the skimmers as well as looking at gas station surveillance video.
Deputies are asking anyone who patronized this particular Hess gas station during this time period to check your receipt to determine which pump you used. If you used the pumps in question, you are asked to contact your financial institution to cancel the card and have a new one issued.
Anyone who may have seen anything suspicious is asked to email Detective Tony Aguiar at taguiar@hernandosheriff.org or call Crime Stoppers. Potential victims are asked to include the debit or credit card information and your contact information. Please make sure the card is deactivated before emailing the detective.