SECURITY ALERT: Credit Card Skimmers on the Rise, Check Your Pumps Today
It appears that our industry in Michigan is under attack by skimmers. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Weights and Measures (MDARD) has recently done a sweep of several areas throughout Michigan and found skimmers at several locations. You may already have been compromised. You need to take action now to help stop the skimmers.
MIRA recommends that within the next 24-48 hours you have your store managers or other key employees inspect all of your dispensers and take a picture of the inside of each unit for your records.
If something is found amiss, you need to do the following:
- Take the dispenser out of service immediately
- Call Michigan Weights and Measures at (517) 655-8202
- Call your dispenser service provider
- Call your credit card processor and notify them you may have had a breech
If you are not already doing so, you should use a security tape seal on the dispenser access panel and check those routinely after the managers make their sweep.
After the initial sweep, your managers should inspect the inside of the dispenser once or twice per week at a minimum. We recommend taking a photo each time for comparison purposes. This will also help identify the time frame of when the skimmer attack occurred.
Other Important Facts to know:
- Skimmers are often found on outlying dispensers.
- Skimmers are being found across the state, not just in the cities.
- If you find a skimmer at one of your stores, often times another of your stores has been attacked. Check all stores, all dispensers if you are attacked.
- Skimmers typically are a hard drive with a blue-tooth device wrapped in tape with a long grey computer ribbon cord attached. They are plugged into the mother board on the dispenser.
- Ask your clerks and other employees to be extra vigilant. A common tactic is a two person team attacks the store. One person distracts the clerk while the second opens the dispenser and plugs in the device. It only takes a few seconds.
- If you have the original locks on your dispensers, have them replaced.
- Please take this seriously and don’t be complacent. By working together we can take a bite out of the skimmers.
Act Now.
