According to the Centralia Police Department, a state inspector found credit card skimmers — illegal devices that steal banking information — at a Centralia gas station.
Centralia Police Department received the report at 12:13 p.m. Tuesday at the Chevron station in the 1200 block of Mellen Street.
The Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Weights and Measures Program, which monitors fuel stations, were the ones who made the discovery.
Centralia Police Officer Angie Humphrey said the inspector reported finding three sets of skimmers on pumps in Lewis County since December.
However, skimmers fit on the pumps’ existing credit card readers and can be installed very quickly, Humphrey said. Currently, there are no identified suspects and police don’t yet know how long the skimmers were in place.
“Unless you know what you’re looking for, it looks normal,” she said.
The owner of the gas station plans to add more security measures to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
In addition to contacting your credit card company, possible victims should reach out to the Centralia Police Department at 360-330-7680.
By: The Daily Chronicle
Mar 21, 2018
For more information regarding Credit Card Skimmers and detecting them check out Detecting Skimmers and Card Skimming.