Do you pay for your gas at the pump?
If so, you may be exposed to one of the most popular scams among criminals: Credit card skimmers.
Credit card skimmers are illegal devices attached to card readers, like those at gas pumps, designed to secretly capture and steal card information when a user swipes or inserts their card. They transmit this data to criminals for fraudulent use.
And the trickiest part?
The skimmers are made to look like part of the machine, so you may not even notice you’ve been victimized until the fraudulent charges start rolling in on your card.
So, what can you do to protect yourself? We’ve enlisted the help of money expert Clark Howard to ensure your gas purchases are transacted as safely as possible.
Clark’s Tip for Safely Purchasing Gas at the Pump
You may have noticed that I mentioned skimmers are designed to steal customers’ data when they swipe or insert their credit card at the pump.
The transaction option I didn’t mention was “tap-to-pay” at the pump.
Clark says this contactless payment is the number one way to protect yourself from skimmers at the gas station.
“If it’s a chip reader and you tap the chip reader at the gas pump, then it’s OK,” Clark says.
This is because a “tap” transaction will bypass traditional credit card skimmers because it doesn’t involve swiping or inserting your card into a potentially compromised card reader.
Instead, it uses encrypted, short-range wireless communication between your card or device and the terminal. This makes it much harder for skimmers to intercept data.
And, even if the information was compromised, the contactless payment transaction is completed differently. It uses a tokenization process that generates random card numbers that are for one-use transactions.
“It works like Apple Pay or Google Wallet, generating a randomized code that is useless to a criminal and bypasses the skimmer,” Clark says.
Why Clark’s ‘No Debit Card’ Rules are Important Here
If you’ve followed Clark’s advice for any length of time, you’re likely well aware of his disdain for debit cards.
Though he has made some rare exceptions to his rule in recent years, Clark generally advises against using them because of a lack of consumer protections when compared to credit cards.
And, unfortunately, using a debit card at the pump for a swipe is one of those situations you need to avoid whenever possible.
It’s riskier than a credit card because it’s tied directly to your bank account.
If a skimmer steals your debit card info, funds can be drained immediately. And recovery of those funds can be slower and less guaranteed compared to credit card fraud protections.
Credit cards typically offer stronger safeguards, like zero-liability policies, and don’t give thieves instant access to your cash.
It is worth noting, however, that you could use a non-chipped debit card to pay for an at-pump transaction by adding the card to either Apple Pay or Google Pay and making it a tap transaction. This is a Clark-approved way to safely use a debit card.
What If ‘Tap-to-Pay’ Isn’t an Option?
If tap-to-pay isn’t available at the pump, you’ll want to visually inspect the card reader on your pump for potential tampering before you swipe your credit card.
Key indicators that something could be amiss are loose parts on the reader or something that looks like it is placed on top of the actual device.
If you’re unsure after your inspection, your safest option likely is to pay inside the store. And if you’re uncomfortable handing over plastic once inside, you could pay with cash or simply go to another gas station.
If you decide to use your card inside the store, you can opt for an employee-staffed register with the hopes that their monitoring of the area has reduced the risk of encountering a skimmer.
Do you have experience dealing with credit card skimmer fraud? We’d love to hear from you in the Clark.com community.
The post #1 Way To Protect Yourself From Credit Card Skimmers appeared first on Clark Howard.
