PALATKA, Fla. – If your Christmas and New Year plans involve driving out of state to visit relatives, be careful where you use your credit or debit card to pay for gas.
A renewed warning about gas station skimmers comes as a Jacksonville man was linked to a gas station skimming scheme in Oklahoma City.
Alberto Bastida Ruiz, 29, of Jacksonville, was arrested in Palatka Tuesday during a traffic stop. When the deputy ran his license, it came back with a warrant out of Oklahoma City.
The warrant accuses Bastida Ruiz of planting skimmer devices at various gas stations around Oklahoma City. According to investigators, he used those devices to make lots of fraudulent purchases across the United States – including Jacksonville.
Last year, Bastida Ruiz was convicted in Jacksonville on four counts of financial fraud. According to a 19-page arrest warrant affidavit, Bastida Ruiz used stolen bank and credit card information to illegally purchase enormous amounts of gasoline from various gas stations in Jacksonville.
Bastida Ruiz was sentenced to one year in the Duval County jail but got an early release. Following his release, a warrant out of Oklahoma City was issued for his arrest. According to Oklahoma Investigators, the stolen bank and credit card information that was used to make purchases in Jacksonville and other parts of the country came from skimmer devices that were installed on gas pumps at various gas stations in Oklahoma City.
Skimmers are used to steal credit and bank card information when an unsuspecting person swipes their card at the gas pump.
News4JAX Crime and Safety Analyst Tom Hackney said Bastida Ruiz’s arrest should serve as an example of why people have to be more observant when using credit and debit cards at gas pumps, especially if the card reader on the pump appears to be loose.
He said a loose card reader can be a sign that a skimmer device has been installed.
“So, tug at it. It should not be loose. It shouldn’t come loose. And it’s not just gas pumps. Sometimes you can go into a convenience store, and they have the overlays on the credit card machines there. Same thing. Tug at it,” Hackney said.
Employees at many gas stations are to inspect the pumps for skimmers. If none are detected, the employee will place a safety tag on the pump to let customers know the card reader has not been compromised.
“If you’re not seeing that tag, that should raise the hair on the back of your neck, and you should either move on to another pump store or another store,” Hackney said.
According To Mastercard, the use of skimming devices led to more than 416,000 cases of identity theft across the U.S. last year.
According to the U.S. Secret Service, skimming has accounted for more than $115 million in losses for victims in recent years.
“Every one of these people that are victimized by this is not only inconvenienced but their credit information is put at risk,” Hackney said. ”When you start dealing with that, it’s hard to dig out of that hole that someone else has put you in. All you’re doing is trying to buy gas at a gas station and be victimized without even knowing it."
Skimming devices are constantly evolving. This is why the U.S. Secret Service Cyber Crimes division has issued online fliers that show what to look out for: