The state is keeping an eye out for credit card skimmers. So far in 2019, 80 skimmers were found on fuel pumps and two of those are in the Tucson-metro area.
The location flagged is on the north-west side at the cross street of Oracle and Rudasill Road. The Arizona Department of Agriculture's Weights and Measures services confirms it's the Chevron at the cross streets. The station had two skimmers on the property since turned over to police.
Along with that stop in Tucson, Weights and Measures flagged a couple of locations in Picacho at the end of July. In addition, there are many spots flagged in the Phoenix area.
"There was a period where we were finding a lot in Prescott Valley. We found them in Wickenburg, Black Canyon, Bullhead City, Lake Havasu City. So there's been quite a few that have been found outside of the Phoenix area and different parts of the state this year," said Michelle Wilson, the associate director for the Arizona Department of Agriculture's Weights and Measures Services.
Currently for this year, 80 skimmers have been reported in the state; that includes the two recently found in Tucson. The total for all of 2018 was 148.
If you believe unauthorized purchases are being made on your credit card because of a skimmer, Wilson advised that you to contact police.
"Because sometimes the fraudulent activity isn't with gas dispensers. It could be an in-store point-of-sale, it could be internet. But if they do believe it has been at a gas station, they can file a complaint with us as well and we'll go inspect the gas station to make sure that there isn't a skimmer there," said Wilson.
There is a policy in place for gas stations to accept chip readers at the pumps. EMV chip technology with our credit cards has proven to be more secure But this is not a policy coming from the federal or state levels. Its coming from banks and credit card companies.
"Its a liability shift regarding who's responsible for fraudulent payments," said Wilson.
That EMV liability shift deadline, Oct. 1st 2020.
