Skimming devices on gas pumps sending stolen card numbers via Bluetooth

A maintenance worker at a Shell gas station located in Florida was the first one to notice that a gas pump he was checking had been fitted with a credit card skimming device.

After he reported the fact to the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, detectives have been sent out to check every pump on every gas station within a mile of the Interstate 75 – and they found three skimming devices on gas pumps on three different has stations.

The U.S. Secret Service was notified and joined the investigation, which brought to light the fact that the devices use Bluetooth to transmit the stolen information to the thieves behind this scheme, and that these gas pumps are not the first ones that have been compromised. The Secret Service is a aware of a larger crime wave involving this very tactic hitting the Southeast of the country, and they believe that all these instances could be tied to a single Miami gang.

According to it World Canada, much is still unknown – how many card numbers have been stolen and misused by the thieves? How did the criminals manage to install the devices (since it requires them to have a key to the pump)? Did they have help from the inside?

All these questions will hopefully be answered, but in the meantime gas station operators are advised to be extra vigilant and point video surveillance – if they have it – towards the pumps, in the hope of catching the criminals while they install the skimming devices.