Protect Yourself From Pay-at-the-Pump Skimming @McAfeeConsumer

You know, gas prices are already high, and when you go to put your credit card into the gas pump, you may be doing more than filling your tank. You could be filling someone else's wallet because gas pumps are the new target for identity theft. What you need to know coming up in today's Take Charge Consumer Protection segment. Well, hang on to your credit cards because credit card fraud Identity fraud is one of the fastest growing crimes in America. Thieves are stealing billions of your dollars from unsuspecting consumers, and one big part of this is something that is now called skimming. You can easily become the next victim. We're gonna tell you where. Joining me now, Robert Siciliano, an identity theft expert, and it's great to have you here, Robert. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, save us please from this. Skimming. This caught my eye this week because skimming is going on at a place you wouldn't expect. Gas pumps. Sometimes they're tampered with and they actually swipe your card and send a lot of information off that magnetic strip. First of all, what's on that strip other than a credit card number?

So that strip basically is the 16-digit credit card number along with, uh, potentially your debit card number as well, depending on what card you use, uh, which generally is enough to turn that data into cash when the bad guy takes that information and clones that card, basically just copies everything on the magnetic strip onto onto another card and goes ahead and makes unauthorized purchases or withdrawals.

So I go to put gas in my vehicle and I look at the pump where I put the card in. Can I tell anything about it to tell if it's been tampered with?

Often the consumer will not be able to know that the pump itself has been compromised. Generally, the bad guys have master keys to the pumps themselves and are able to actually put a device inside the pump. So you might not ever see the actual skimming device itself because it's, it's internal, and once your information is skimmed, they just go ahead and again clone that card. So, so generally for consumers, when it comes to gas pumps, you really want to pay very close attention to your statements because if there are any unauthorized charges, you want to know about that as quickly as possible and refute those charges.

Can you still do that where if even if your card is lost or stolen, your limited liability is like $50? It used to be the law.

So it still is. The law is basically that you are limited to $50 as long as you respond to the issuing bank, the credit card company, within a 60-day period of time. It's that 60-day grace period that you have as a consumer to refute those charges. After that, you will be responsible for those charges. However, most banks, most credit card companies have instituted a zero liability policy, so when there is some type of fraud, they will basically reset the clock. But you have to be on top of it. You have to pay attention to your statements. If you're not paying attention to those statements, again, you're going to pay for the dinner of an identity thief.

Here or internationally sometimes, it's amazing how far those numbers can go or be sold. Where else can you be skimmed other than at the gas pump, which is the one that caught our eye? Restaurants, I imagine, are a problem too, right? And stores?

Restaurants, certainly ATMs themselves. An ATM machine is known to have, at this point, bad guys from all over the world are flying into the US and they're at attaching devices to the face of the ATM where you'd put the card. Basically, the card slot is compromised with an external device called an ATM skimmer, and that device records the information off the back of the magnetic strip. And there's another device on the ATM, a small wireless camera that records your PIN as you're punching in your PIN code. So, so always cover up the keypad with your other hand as you're punching in a PIN, and they can't get your PIN code, so they can't make a withdrawal out of your account.

No, that's a great one. Look, other than cash, is there any other way, Robert, that we could be paying for things and avoiding all of this, or we just really have to be alert?

So I use my credit cards for everything. I don't really worry about credit card fraud, and I tell consumers the same thing. Listen, use your credit cards, just pay close attention to your statements. And as long as you're looking at your statements— and I do it weekly online, I look at my receipts, whether they're purchased in person or over the internet, and I compare them to the charges on my card on the statement online— and as long as everything If everything matches up, you're fine. If it doesn't match up, you refute those charges and they may change your credit or debit card number at that time. But I don't worry about it because I just pay attention to my statements. The chances of it happening to you, you know, it's slim, but there is a chance, so you do want to pay close attention to those statements. I can't stress that enough.

And you have, and I really appreciate it. Robert Siciliano, great to see you. Uh, and to have this Take Charge segment with you and help folks not get skimmed. All right, for more on Take Charge, a number of consumer issues that we've picked to help you take care of yourself and your family, Go to FoxNews.com.