Card Skimmers Discovered at Iberia Parish Gas Stations

It seems the harder we try to keep our personal and financial information and access out of the hands of bad guys the harder they try to get it. Such seems to be the case based on a recent discovery in Iberia Parish.

Deputies with the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Department have recovered two credit card skimming devices from gas pumps at two gas stations. The stations are located at Highway 182 and Darnall Road and Highway 86 and Emile Verret Road.

Even to the trained eye, it would have been difficult to detect these Bluetooth skimmers. That's because the devices are located on the inside of the pumps. More conventional card readers and skimmers are installed by the bad guys on the outside of pumps near where you slide your card into the machine to pay.

The devices were discovered when the operators of the stations noticed that certain pumps were not able to read some credit cards. The station attendants called in technicians who discovered the illegal card reading devices inside the actual pumps.

Based on reports, the scammers seem to have been able to install the skimmers on the older pumps at both affected locations. All in all eight pumps were compromised between the two service stations.

Authorities are quick to remind consumers to be cognizant of improprieties or things that just "don't look quite right" when they go to pay for gas with a credit card. It's always better to be safe than sorry. One sure way to avoid getting scammed by a skimmer is to prepay for gas purchases inside the store. However, that does take the convenience right out of the convenience store.

Deputies in Iberia Parish say their investigation into the scam is ongoing. They encourage anyone who may have purchased fuel at the locations described above to monitor their bank and credit card accounts for unauthorized activity.