Police warn of card skimmers after couple loses thousands to fraud

Las Cruces police have issued a warning about credit card skimmers that could steal your payment information.

The warning comes after one couple had thousands of dollars stolen from their account with a skimming system.

Gas stations and ATMs: those are the two places, according to police, with the highest risk of card skimmers: small devices that can be placed over card readers to clone your payment information.

But there are ways to check and make sure you’ll be safe.

“When you go up there, before you insert your card, before you swipe your card, give it a tug, give it a pull. Push it around a little bit. If there’s any movement at all, or if it falls of, obviously, don’t use it,” said Dan Trujillo from the Las Cruces Police Department.

Even if the reader is solid you may want to take other precautions, like using contact-less payment.

Google, Android, Samsung and Apple Pay all use security tokens to process payments. That means using your phone to pay for gas or withdraw money can bypass the skimmer entirely.

“If you go inside the business it’s very unlikely that, you know, at a Walmart inside when you swipe your card, it’s very unlikely that something like that would happen there,” Trujillo said.

Since debit cards are direct lines to your bank account it’s also recommended you use a credit card when you’re at a gas station.

If you suspect your card may be at risk of being skimmed you can sign up for text or push alerts from your bank to be informed of all transactions. Anything you see that wasn’t your own purchase should be followed up on with your bank.