Police Warn Of Skimmers Found At Gas Pumps

On Monday June 4th at approximately 8:28 AM police were sent to the Conoco gas station at 8100 Westridge for a Fraud. When officers arrived, it was reported that a credit card skimmer device had been located inside one of the gas pumps.

Four hours later, police received a call to Raytown Petroleum gas station at 5304 Raytown Road where another credit card skimmer device had been located inside a gas pump. Both skimmers were removed.

It is unclear if the two incidents are connected. It is unknown how long the devices have been inside the pumps. It is unknown if any information captured by the devices were accessed before they were discovered. Both devices were inside the pumps, so they were not visible to customers. There is no suspect information at this time and the investigation is ongoing.

Raytown Police are contacting all Raytown gas stations to advise them of the discovery of the skimmers, so that they may inspect their pumps. The Missouri Department of Agriculture, who regularly inspects gas pumps in the State of Missouri, was also advised of the discoveries. Raytown Police ask anyone that may have used their credit card at either gas station to monitor their transactions and accounts for any unusual activity.

Consumers may protect themselves from skimmers by:

Checking for external skimmers- External skimmers fit over the outside of the card reader and steal the credit card information as the card is being slid into the slot. They may look slightly different than the other card readers (color, texture, etc.). Often they will feel loose when you try to wiggle them and may even come off in your hand.

Checking for evidence of tampering (to install an internal skimmer)- Look for broken or missing tamper tape on access panels. Look for evidence of forced entry into an access panel, which could include pry marks, scratches, or broken locks.

Anyone with information about these crimes is asked to contact the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).